Boarding School
by CatSrii
Summary: AU. Karkat is a mutant blood troll at highschool trying to keep his secret from the highblood Gamzee. Not the most original set up, I know but I've seen a lot of good stories go seemingly abandoned and I can't stop thinking about what would happen so I wrote a similar one to get some of my ideas out. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Karkat's shoes thudded heavily as the short troll ran across campus. He was running late for sophomore orientation. Being a second year there wasn't a lot of information he needed that he did not already know, but orientation was when everyone was assigned into their dormblocks in the studenthives.

Fortunately, being a sophomore, he already knew his way to the auditorium and would not get lost like last year. In fact, he even knew a short cut by going through the storage room that connected two hallways, and as he glanced at his watch he decided taking said shortcut would be a good idea. After entering the main hallway he quickly threw open the storage room door and ran to the other side.

Karkat opened up the door outward into the hall closer to the assembly room only to have it immediately slam shut on him, bashing into his nose. Karkat fell to the floor with a thud and rubbed his sore nose in confusion. He tried again to open the door, this time more slowly and cautiously and peered out into the hallway to see what happened. He saw a female blue-blood troll with glasses horsing around with some brown-blood with a Mohawk. Apparently one of them had fallen against the door just as he was opening it.

"WHAT THE FUCK VRISKA, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING." Karkat snapped as he entered the hall.

"Heeeeeeeey, Karkat. We were just having a little fun. Don't 8e such a h8er." She said teasingly, "Right, Tavros?" The brown blood she was referring to just shifted uncomfortably and looked away shyly, not wanting to contradict her. Vriska was going to get that kid seriously hurt one day if he didn't learn to stand up for himself. Karkat just growled and stormed off. As much as he would love to barrage her with one of his long winded insults, he had a schedule to stick to.

He rubbed his nose as he continued down the hall. **Damn **did it hurt, and started to feel a little wet, was it running? Before he could check however he was, once again, bumped into something nose first and knocked into the ground. Karkat figured he would have to get a bandage to cover up the big, red, dead-give-away, mutant bruise that would form by the end of the day. He looked up ready to curse out Vriska to see a troll of even greater stature, both in physical height and in blood-caste.

"SorRy, BrO." The tall troll said. He was an Indigo blood, made evident by the on the Capricorn symbol printed on his shirt and the color of his eyes. He looked down at Karkat with a face painted in dark grey and white clown make up. Karkat tensed for a moment. He heard of this kid. He wasn't just any purple-blood; he was related to the Grand Highblood. And as a mutant blood, this was pretty much Karkat's worst fear realized.

Between not wanting to keep eye-contact with all that he dreaded and thinking that he felt the wetness from his nose spread to his shirt. Karkat looked down and his eyes widened in terror.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Karkat screamed scrambling away from the indigo blood while placing one hand over his throbbing nose after seeing the red splatter on his shirt. The high blood reached out for him, and placed his hand on his shoulder, but it was not the aggressive apprehension he was expecting. Instead the taller troll just patted his shoulder lightly is a slow and lazy manner.

"ChIlL bRo. It MaY bE a WaStE oF, WiCkeD EliXiR, bUt It aIn'T tHe EnD oF aLl MiRaClEs." He said. Karkat just looked up at him in confusion and shock until he saw the bottle in the large troll's hand. Karkat slowly brought his hands away from his still sore nose to see that they were dry, and the bright red stain on his shirt just cherry Faygo the highblood spilled on him.

The dopey looking highblood held out his hand to Karkat to help him up. But Karkat just looked away and rolled over on his side and pushed himself up with his arms. While he may have gotten away with a soda stain on his shirt, he didn't want to take any risks and pulled his turtle neck over the lower half of his face while turned away from the high blood and moved to pass him.

"HeY, YoU oKaY mY iNvErTeBrOtHer?" he asked.

"I'M FUCKING FINE." Karkat ground out, hoping he would just leave him alone.

"WhY yOu GoT yOuR sHiRt Up AnD oVeR YoUr FaCe?" he asked, falling in step with Karkat as he headed towards the assembly room in a sort of fast walk. Karkat decided to turn around and walk in the other direction, if asked where he was going he would just say he needed to use the load gaper. The other troll simply turned around and followed him still.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Karkat's growl was slightly muffled by his shirt.

"JuSt ChEcKiNg Up On A mOtHeRfUcKeR." He said with a dopey smile.

"YOUR GOING TO BE LATE FOR ORIENTATION."

"Aw, dIdN't YoU gEt ThE nOtIcE? tHeY alL uP aNd MoThErFuCkInG ReScHeDuLeD. wE StilL gOt ThIRtY mInUtEs LeFt."

Had Karkat's nose not been so battered he would have pinched the bridge of it in frustration. He settled for groaning instead. Not only did he now not have an excuse to ditch the clown but all the stress he went through this morning had been pointless. He really needed to get into the habit of checking his email before he left for school.

"WHATEVER, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE." Karkat said as he continued down the hall and headed towards the school hygiene block.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Kartkat snapped, as the highblood was still behind him.

"JuSt WaNtEd To MaKe SuRe ThIs MoThErFuCkErS AlRiGhT.

"THERE ARE SOME PLACES YOU DON'T FOLLOW A GUY, FUCK OFF!" Karkat shouted, slamming the door behind him. Karkat would have thought that it would have been obvious that he wanted to be left alone when headed towards the load gaper, but obviously that troll was messed up in the head.

Karkat slowly lowered his turtle neck in front of the reflection glass and examined his face. There was no bruising yet, but there was a small speck of blood on the corner of his nostril; it wasn't very noticeable but probably caused the moisture he felt earlier. He quickly washed it off and checked to make sure it wasn't still bleeding before heading out the door and was pleased to find the highblood did not wait up for him. He quickly checked his watch to see that orientation was about to really begin and headed towards the assembly. He walked passed the rows of chairs, hoping to get into a secluded corner, but stopped when he saw a familiar face trying to get his attention and looked towards the troll.

"What ii2 up, KK?" the troll who was slightly taller than Karkat with four horns and mismatched glasses lisped at him while waving from his seat. Upon seeing the troll Karkat immediately made his way to the other.

"JUST GREAT, SOLLUX." Kartkat growled as he sat down next to him, "FIRST DAY OF THE YEAR HERE AND I ALREADY RUN INTO A FUCKING HIGHBLOOD, AND HE COULDN'T BE JUST ANY FUCKING HIGHBLOOD, _NOOOO_. HE HAD TO BE THE FUCKING GOGDAMNED SUBJUGGULATOR DESCENDENT OF THE GRAND HIGHBLOOD. I BUMP INTO HIM ONCE AND HE STARTS FOLLOWING ME AROUND LIKE A FUCKING MEWBEAST AND I'M A BOTTLE OF HOOFBEAST JUICE. NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT HE WOULD WANT TO CRACK ME OPEN AND DRINK MY INSIDES IF THE STUPID NOOKSUCKER WASN'T DIDN'T HAVE A ROTTEN THINK PAN." Karkat huffed.

"You done?" Sollux asked completely un-phased by Kartkat's long winded ranting. Last semester the two were roommates and had grown quite close, not that anyone would guess from the way Karkat would barrage him with insults, but he did that with everyone. "Maybe he ju2t want2 two be your friend." Sollux teased.

"GOG, I HOPE NOT." Karkat grumbled. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT FUCKNUT ALREADY." Karkat looked around at the large number of students gathering in the assembly room trying to find the highblood from earlier just to make sure he wasn't sitting too close. He was not hard to find, being an extremely tall troll even without his horns. Karkat soon found those long curved horns sitting at least three rows away from him and he sighed in relief.

The vice principal stood on stage and rambled off school rules, where to get the class schedules, school maps, when the office hours where, ect. He finished with, "I hope we have a peaceful school year. Try not to kill eachother." Karkat sighed. He wished he could say that was a joke, but knowing how trolls are and the fact that they were sticking a large number of adolescences in a confined area, it was likely to happen every now and again. If you were a highblood you could get away with it easily, they might not even get suspended, which made Karkat even more afraid of the subjugulator just a few rows ahead.

After the assembly was over Everyone scattered to the tables to get their scheduals dorm numbers and keys. Some, like Karkat, where allowed to store their bags in the office the day before so they wouldn't have to lug it around during orientation. Unfortunately this meant there was a rather large crown of students in not that big an office scrambling about and trying to decipher which bag was theirs. It was one of the few times Karkat was glad that he was so tiny, it made it easy to slip in-between the other trolls once he found his bags.

Karkat moved away from the crowd with his studenthive key in hand. He did not noticed at first, seeing as the noise was masked by all the other students shuffling about, but as the crown thinned out and everyone went to find their dormblocks he began to notice heavy foot falls behind him. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see the indigoblood with clown makeup behind him and tensed. Karkat looked directly ahead, picking up his pace a little, not too fast though. He didn't want to draw attention to himself by running away. After a few more yards of walking Karkat grew nervous as the clown was still behind him. Was he following him? Why? Even with Karkat's quickened pace, the tall troll was starting to draw nearer with his long strides.

At first it seemed like the highblood was closing in on him and Karkat feared what would happen if he got caught, but then the clown started to pass him up.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK." Karkat mumbled quietly as the ordinarily loud troll could manage as what he realized that the tall troll was not following him, but just happened to be going in the same direction as they headed off to their dormblocks, which meant he would probably be seeing a lot more of him. The worst he dreaded came true when he found that the troll would not just be living near his dorm, but in fact had stopped in front of the very same one Karkat was assigned with a key in his hand. "FUUUUUUCK." Karkat turned to face the wall so he could slam his head against it.

He was sharing a room with this guy? He was dead! Last year he was only able to hide his blood color for three weeks before he roommate walked in on him while he was putting in his contact lenses. Fortunately, for once in Karkat's miserable life, Sollux was rather low on the hemospectrum himself and did not really care about that. Karkat had a feeling that his current roommate would feel quite a bit differently, being that he was the highest blood color Karkat had ever seen on anyone without gills.

Karkat stepped into the dormblock. It was somewhat small for two people. It had two simple recuprecoons and two desks on one side and a hunger trunk, counters, and a sink on the other. There was also a door leading to the hygiene block on the middle back wall.

The young subbjuggulator dumped his large bag on the floor, allowing quite a few horns and juggling clubs to spill out on the floor. He turned around to see Karkat standing in the doorway.

"HeY ThErE mOtHeRfUcKeR, SoMeThInG yOu NeEd?" He asked lazily, not seeming to realize that this was his new roommate. "HeY, yOuR tHaT mOtHeRfUcKeR fRoM eArLiEr. YoU aLrIgHt, Bro?"

"YEAH," Karkat didn't know why he cared so much after being cursed out so many times. Then again he swears a lot himself so he might not think anything of it. The highblood seemed to notice the key in Karkat's hand had the same number on it as his.

"Oh, YoUr My MoThErFuCkInG rOoMmAtE?" He said with a smile and stretched out his hand to Karkat. "GaMzEe MaKaRa." Karkat reluctantly took it in his hand.

"KARKAT VANTAS." After introductions were exchanged Gamzee went to unloading his bag and shoving his horns and clubs into a pile then moving to gather up a bunch of faygo out of the bottom of his bag and carry it to the hunger trunk. Despite having long arms, there proved to be a bit too many bottles as they started slipping from his grasp.

"JEGUS, HOW MUCK OF THAT CRAP DID YOU BRING?" Karkat asked seeing bottled of faygo spilling out of his bag. Karkat was beginning to wonder if Gamzee bothered packing any clothes; there wasn't much room left in his bag after all the horns and clubs and it looked like it was filled up with soda.

"As MuCh As I cOuLd Fit. NoThInG lIkE oPeNiNg A wIcKeD eLiXiR aNd HeArInG iT sInG." Gamzee said, probably referring to the hissing release of carbon dioxide when the seal was broken. "MiRaClEs, MoThErFuCkInG mIrAcLeS." Gamzee laughed.

"IT'S NOT A MIRACLE." Karkat snapped, "IT'S JUST CARBONATION."

"I dOn'T WaNnA kNoW tHaT bRo. NoT kNoWiNg MaKeS iT a MyStErY, aNd MyStErIeS aRe MoThErFuCkInG fUlL oF mIrAcLeS."

"YOU ARE SO GOING TO FAIL CHEM CLASS." Karkat mumbled as he dropped his bag on the floor. He did not bother unpacking it.

Karkat did not stay to get acquainted with his new roommate. After five minutes he was out the door and headed to the office to demand a roommate transfer. Maybe he could get Sollux as his roommate again, at least then he would have to lock himself in the hygiene block whenever he needed to put on his contact lenses or scraped his knee, but ultimately anyone would be better than having the grand highblood's recuprecoon right next to his.

Karkat was only met with frustration and anger when he was told that it was too early to request a transfer and that they expected him to try and work out his problems with a roommate before giving up on him. He was told that he would have to wait at least the end of the first quarter, which was a month away. A month?! That was plenty of time for the shit to hit the whirling device. Of course Karkat couldn't tell them why he wanted a transfer, as he would have to tell them he was a mutant blood, so instead he settled for a long list of enraged insults directed at the guidance counselor. The result was Karkat was punished with cleaning duty for the first week of classes.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't usually post this quickly, but seeing all the views I got on the first day made me so excited. If you like it, I'd really like to know. I'll keep posting but next chapter probably won't be up before Friday. Bye-.**

The first day on Campus had been frustrating, painful, and exhausting. Karkat was so impatient for it to end that he went to bed early, leaving his grey contact lenses in. He did not have the type of contact lenses you were supposed to sleep in, and awoke with his eyes feeling quite itchy and irritated. However, that proved to be a blessing in disguise as what woke him up was something sharp poking into his side. He rolled over and cracked his eyes open to see that he was being poked by one of Gamzee's horns. Karkat opened his eye wide to see Gamzee's head upside down inside his recuprecoon, poking through the hole at the top.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Karkat shrieked at seeing the highblood positioned awkwardly halfway inside his cocoon.

"SorRy, MoThErFuCkEr." Gamzee drawled, "'GoT A bIt aLl Up AnD sTuCk HeRe. I dOn'T SuPpOsE yOu CoUlD hElP a MoThErFuCkEr OuT AnD gIvE mE a PuSh." Karkat was more than happy to slam his hands into Gamzee's head with as much force as possible, pushing him out of his recupricoon and soon climbed out himself.

"HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET STUCK IN MY RECUPRICOON?!" Karkat shouted/asked.

"I wAs PrAcTiCiNg oN tHe SiNgLe WhEeL DeViCe." Gamzee explained, pointing to the device with one wheel pedals and a seat, "StIlL NoT SuRe HoW a MoThErFuCkEr Is SuPpOsEd To KeEp BaLaNcE On It. MuSt Be A MoThErFuCkInG MiRaClE."

"YOU SAY THAT ABOUT EVERYTHING. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT A MIRACLE IS?"

"MiRaClEs ArE MoThErFuCkInG eVerYwHeRe BrO." Gamzee drawled, "YoU jUsT gOtTa LoOk FoR tHeM."

"FUCKING IDIOT," Karkat grumbled, before locking himself in the hygieneblock to rinse out his contact lenses. When he came out he found Gamzee throwing some sparkle dust into his face.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"JuSt PrAyInG tO ThE mIrThFuL mEsSiAhS.

"UGH." Karkat grumbled. The clown religion. He didn't really want to learn more. He moved to his bag to get some sopor slime free clothes from his bag and got ready for class, storming out the door with his backpack. He was glad to find that he did not share any classes with Gamzee, at least until the very end of the day when the clown sitting next him in Chemistry.

"HeY mY iNvErTeBrOtHer." He said sliding into the seat next to Karkat. "ReAdY tO gEt YoUr ScHoOlFeD oN?"

"SURE. I'M FUCKING ECSTATIC, AS IF THIS CLASS WASN'T BAD ENOUGH FROM HAVING TO SIT NEXT TO SOME FUCKER WITH A ROTTED THINKPAN WHILE SOME BULGELICKER TEACHER BLATHERS ON TEDIOUSLY."

"DoN't WoRrY bRo, tHe mIrThFuL mEsSiAhS wOn'T lEt HiM dEsTrOy AlL ThE mIraClEs." Clearly Gamzee was incapable of being insulted.

the class progressed with Gamzee actively ignoring any scientific explanations the teacher tried to give by constantly trying to talk to Karkat, who, unlike Gamzee, actually wanted to know what was going on lest they had a popquiz this week. Karkat grumbled to himself about not being able to focus on his work as Gamzee chatted up his ear. Going into great detail about the mirthful messiahs, his daily prayers with the stardust, (which Karkat was sure was just glitter) and his clown make up.

Once class was over Karkat was spared having to walk back to the studenthives with the talkative Gamzee. In fact he would not be leaving the campus for quite a while, as after the end of classes he was left to scrub the hygiene block floors as part of his punishment for cursing the councilor.

Karkat scrubbed furiously at the floor, not really caring if he did a half-assed job, but was too angry to do anything calmly. He grumbled his usual curses to himself as he heard someone open up the door and stepped in. Instead of walking passed Karkat to use the facilities, a pair of shoes stopped in front of him. Karkat recognized the mismatched vans and looked up.

"Hey, kk. What are you doing in here?" Sollux asked.

"SERVING OUT MY FUCKING DETENTION." Karkat growled. "THE FUCKING SCHOOL COUNCILOR GAVE IT TO ME WHEN I TOLD THAT NOOKSNIFFING BULGE LICKER TO GIVE ME A NEW ROOM OR FUCK OFF."

"Gee, ii wonder why 2he got mad." Sollux lisped sarcastically.

"I'M LOCKED UP WITH THE GOGDAMNED HIGHEST OF HIGHBLOODS NET TO THE FISH FUCKERS, AND THAT GOGDAMNED COUNCILOR WOULDN'T EVEN LISTEN. I'M SUPPOSED TO STAY WITH A FUCKING CLOWN UNTIL THE END OF THE QUARTER?! THAT FUCKNUT COULD DESTROY ME AND ALL SHE WAS GABBING ON ABOUT WAS HOW I SHOULD TRY A LITTLE LONGER!"

"Well what diid you expect? iit wa2 only the fiir2t day." Sollux responed.

"THAT COUNCILOR HAS A ROTTED THINK PAN. HER FUCKING IDIOCY IS GOING TO GET ME CULLED."

"Makara ii2n't that bad. He may be a hiighblood, but he ii2 pretty chiill. ii got 2tuck wiith a hiighblood two. 2ome 2eadweller douche bag. He ju2t won't 2hut up about blood caste. 2ays lowblood2 are iinferiior and 2hould bow to hiim iin the hallway2 then complaiin2 wonderiing why no one want2 to hang wiith hiim."

"HAS HE THREATENED TO KILL YOU?"

"Ha2 Makara?"

"WELL…NO. BUT HE'S A FUCKING SUBBJUGULATOR. IT'S PROBABLY GOING TO HAPPEN."

"Ii've met hiim. He ii2 iin my math cla22. He'2 not liike other hiighblood2. You'll probably be fine."

"YEAH, FUCKING RIGHT." Karkat grumbled as he continued scrubbing and Sollux rolled his eyes behind his glasses. Suddenly the door to opened and another troll walked in.

"Captor, wwhy didn't you tell me wwhere you wwere going." A troll with black and purple hair wearing glasses, a scarf and a fancy coat stepped in.

"Ugh, Ampora, ii don't care how lonely you are. 2top following me around." Sollux snapped.

"Howw dare you imply that a highblood like myself wwould need company of a peasant like yourself." Ampora snapped.

"2ee, thiis iis exactly why you don't have friiend2." Sollux grumbled as he left the hygiene block to get away from the annoying troll, only for him to follow after whining.

"Wwait, don't leave me. Soool."

Karkat was once again left alone to finish scrubbing. Good riddance that Ampora's whiny voice was a burden on his ears.

When karkat finished cleaning finally arrived back at his hive he found Gamzee placing a few pies on the counter. They looked a little like keylime pie, but the color seemed just a little too…vibrant.

"HeY, mOtHeRfUcKeR. wAnNa CoMe An GeT yOuR sNaCk oN?" He said holding out

"NO." Karkat said looking away. The pies smelled funny. Evidently that did not deter Gamzee as he was soon burying his face in one. He didn't even cut himself a slice, he just ate it right out of the pie tin. Gamzee just remembered something.

"HeY, KaRbRo. A pAcKaGe ArRiVed FoR yOu." Gamzee said gesturing towards the recuprecoons. Karkat looked over to find a package did indeed arrive and it was placed on the top of his cocoon. At a closer look it was from Kankri, his older brother. Well, sort of brother. Trolls normally did not grow up with siblings as a lusus normally only took in one troll, but there was nothing really normal about Karkat, or Kankri for that matter. Rather than focus on his complex familial relationship Karkat decided to see what he got.

He opened up the package and found a romcom titled "A magazine writer has a breakup with her matesprite and becomes inspired to write an article about losing a matesprit in ten days by dating an advertising executive and trying to drive him away while the executive tries to get her to become flushed for him in ten days in order to prove that he knows enough about matespriteship to pitch engagement jewelry."

Just what he needed. And not in a sarcastic way either. This was no doubt going to be a stressful year, he could already tell, and he was going to need plenty of movies to help him relax.

In order to have some semblance of privacy Karkat plugged in some headphones into his husktop so Gamzee wouldn't be able to hear the movie and find out about his love for shitty rom-coms. He popped the disk into his husktop and watched it play. It was around the point when Troll Kate Hudson had started moving her possession's into the advertising executives hive when Karkat felt something heavy drop down on his head.

Karkat tensed when he felt something leaning against his shoulder. And looked up slightly to see Gamzee was resting his head on Karkat's own.

"HeEeY, iNvErTeBrOtHer."Gamzee sounded even slower than usual as he gazed sluggishly down at Karkat. The make up on his face was smudged and covered with pie stains. "YoU wAtChInG a MoVie?"

"AHG!" was the noise Karkat made a he pushed his hands up over his head in order to throw Gamzee off. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING BULGELICKER."

"JuSt ChEcKiNg In On YoU mOtHeRfUcKeR." Gamzee said and picked up the movie case off of the desk to read the title.

"GIVE ME THAT!" Karkat snapped. "DON'T LOOK AT THAT!"

"YoU lIkE rOmAnTiC cOmEdIeS?"

"WHAT? YOUR GOING YOU MAKE FUN OF MY SHITTY TASTE IN MOVIES."

"NaH, bRo. I dOn'T tHiNk ThErE iS aNyThInG wRoNg wItH tHaT.

"Y-YOU, YOU DON'T?" Karkat was caught slightly off guard.

"BrO, lOvE iS a MoThErFuCkInG MiRacle"

"UGH, RIGHT." Karkat grumbled. What was with this guy and miracles?

"YeAh, BrO!" Gamzee smiled widely leaning in with a big smile. Karkat thought he might have missed the sarcasm in his tone and just glared at him. Gamzee didn't look away, but he did stop smiling.

His lazy grin suddenly dropped and his brows furrowed in confusion as he looked into Karkat's eyes. He seemed to be concentrating, on something with as much thinking power his slow thinkpan could muster. Curious and confused. Karkat's expression soon mirrored Gamzee's as he became confused as to what cause his roommates sudden shift in demeanor. A sudden thought occurred to Karkat when Gamzee leaned in a little closer, squinting in an appraising way. _OH SHIT! HE WAS LOOKING AT HIS EYES. WHAT IF ONE OF HIS CONTACTS SLIPPED._ Karkat quickly covered his eyes with his hands and stood up so quickly that he had bashed his forehead into Gamzee's face before Gamzee had a chance to move away.

Karkat ignored the pain in his forehead and ran into the hygiene block and locked the door behind him. He looked in the reflection glass, but his contacts were perfectly in place. You couldn't even see a bit of color around the rim of his iris. He leaned in close looking for any blemishes or abnormalities that may have got his attention. What the hell was he looking at? The expression on Gamzee's face was one of genuine curiosity and confusion, but aside from his mutant blood Karkat didn't think any part of him was abnormal.

Except for maybe that purple streak in his hair, but that wasn't there before. Oh gog, he looked like that Ampora douche Sollux was stuck with. Karkat ran his fingers through his hair and realized the substance staining it was blood. His eyes widened and he slowly creaked open the door to see Gamzee, sitting on the floor with a nose bleed.

"FUCK." Karkat mumbled. Before retreating back into the hygiene block to get a towel for his roommate, but didn't leave until he could think of an adequate excuse as to why he suddenly freaked out like that. "S-SORRY, I THOUGHT I HAD LEFT THE HAIRDRYER ON AND DIDN'T WANT THE TOWELS TO CATCH ON FIRE." It was such a weak excuse. Karkat didn't have a hair dryer, and even if he did he didn't take a shower this morning so it wouldn't have been left out anyways. But Gamzee didn't question it.

"ChiLl MoThEr FuCkEr, I kNoW yOu DiDn'T mEaN it." He just said as he took the towel and pressed it against his bleeding nose. What was up with this guy? Why was he so laid back? Karkat new if the same had happened to him he'd be screaming a few choice words right now, well he would be if he wasn't cowering in fear from the highblood that just uncovered his mutant secret, but if it happened with Sollux there'd be plenty of swearing.

Karkat, feeling a little guilty for the head bashing, helped Gamzee into nutrition section of the dorm and cleaned up the blood with the sink (Karkat did not want him in the hygiene block lest he notice a distinct lack of hairdryer). After the bleeding stopped Karkat kind of awkwardly shuffled away to return to his movie. Gamzee soon loomed over.

"CaN i WaTcH wItH yOu, MoThErFuCkEr?" Gamzee asked.

"I GUESS." Karkat grumbled, not really being able to come up with a response besides, 'I'm afraid of you,' but like hell was he going to say that and so for the rest of the night Karkat had Gamzee leaning over his shoulder, giving loud honking laughs (quite annoyingly) right into Karkat's ear wheneve the slightest joke was made.

The following morning Karkat managed to get up early enough to lock himself in the hygiene block and put in his contact lenses before Gamzee woke up and started… doing whatever he was doing with his horns when Karkat came out. In chem class he even had a slightly better time taking down notes as Gamzee had taken to doodling smiley faces with big clown noses and writing Honk over and over, but that did not mean Karkat was free of annoyances as he still had cleaning duty and got back to his dorm late.

As Karkat walked back to his dorm he thought about his roommate's behavior. He had not expected someone so high on the hemospectrum to act like that. Quite frankly he had not seen any troll act like that. Karkat was beginning to suspect that the other troll was stoned, but had no idea how he managed to keep sneaking drugs on campus without Karkat noticing. Maybe it was in the Faygo? Gamzee certainly brought a lot of bottles when he first arrived. Karkat's question was soon answered when he opened the door to his dormblock and found Gamzee scooping sopor slime out of his recuprecoon and dumping it into a pie tin.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Karkat snapped. He thought those pies where funny looking when he saw them.

"MaKiN' pIeS BrO." Gamzee said simply, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"YOU ACTUALLY EAT SOPOR SLIME? YOU FUCKING NOOKSNIFFER. YOUR THINKPAN IS MORE ROTTEN THAN I THOUGHT IT WAS." Karkat said, while trying to grasp what would give a troll the idea to essentially eat their bedding in the first place. "YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO EAT THAT YOU KNOW."

"BuT iT sTiLl MaKeS a MoThErFuCkInG gOoD PiE. MuSt JuSt Be OnE oF LiFe'S mOtHeRfUcKiNg MiRaClEs." He drawled out as he held up the half full pie tin.

"Ugh." Karkat groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Again with the miracles. Is there anything else this clown talks about. Whatever. Karkat decided he didn't care if his roommate was stoned off his ass if that meant he was going to leave Karkat alone while he set to work mixing all the ingredients for the pie.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, Kankri may be a little out of character but I just did not have it in me to write his speeches. See you next week.**

Gamzee sat as his desk as he wolfed down one of his pies, thinking about Karkat. That night he had locked himself in the bathroom with some sort of tiny case and when he came out he quickly jumped into his cocoon without making saying goodnight or even looking at Gamzee. He did the same thing last night too.

After Gamzee finished his pie he got up and glanced into Karkat's recuprecoon. He looked so calm an serene, which just seemed unnatural on the crabby Troll's face. Recently Gamzee noticed that there was something unnatural looking even when he was awake.

There was something strange with Karkat's eyes. They were a dark grey, which at his age was strange in it of itself, but there was something else. If he had not looked so close at Karkat the other day, he would not have noticed, but his eyes did not seem to have much depth to them. His irises looked a little flat, and they did not shine the same way other trolls' did. Something just seemed unnatural and unalive about them. Gamzee just shrugged it off though. He was probably self-conscious about it and that's why he freaked out when Gamzee got so close. Gamzee looked at the time on his husktop and figured it be good to turn in as well.

After the first couple days passed and everyone had time to settle into the schedules the teachers starting getting to the real work. The Chemistry teacher announced that they would be doing group projects where they would compile a report on the behaviors and interactions between atoms, which they would present to the class. Karkat grumbled in annoyance that such a big project was being assigned so early in the year. If this was any indicator for the rest of the year, finals in this class would probably have him up studying all night. On top of it all he still had detention, so he wouldn't have much time to work on it once he got back to his dormblock. He could only hope that he was paired up with a really good partner that was willing to pick up the slack. His hopes were instantly crushed when he was paired with Gamzee.

A lot of students were paired with their roommates if they were in the same class. The teachers thought it would make group projects easier if they shared a living space. Karkat was dismayed. Not only was he grouped with the one person he was still trying to avoid, but said person was religiously opposed to learning and was likely drag his grades down.

After class Gamzee followed Karkat to detention and chatted in his ear about the project. Mostly about them being paired together, despite not showing interested in working on the project at all he seemed to think that it meant that they would be spending more time together anyway and that they would become 'best friends'. It took all of Karkat's will power not to beat Gamzee upside the head with the broom.

Karkat trudged back to their dorm with Gamzee. He was not looking forward to starting the project. Given Gamzee's interest in science (or lack thereof) Karkat figured he'd be doing most of the work. When they arrived at the dorm there was something that would be delaying work on such projects and while Karkat would like to put that off as long as possible, he would hardly consider this a fortunate turn of events as that something was wearing a bright red, floppy turtle neck.

"KANKRI!" Karkat shouted when he saw the older troll leaning against the door to his dormblock. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Why I came t9 visit y9u Karkat." Kankri stated.

"WHY?! I'VE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN GONE A WEEK YET. WHY AREN'T YOU WITH CRABDAD?"

"He is imp9ssi6le t9 handle al9ne." Kankri explained, "He w9n't even calm d9wn when I give him the raw fish you usually d9."

"I TOLD YOU HE DOESN'T LIKE THE WHOLE FISH, YOU TAKE OUT THE ROE AND FREEZE IT INTO CUBES BEFORE SERVING IT TO HIM."

"Well it's a g99d thing I came d9wn here s9 y9u c9uld tell me that."

"WHAT THE FUCK? I LEFT WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS!"

"Hmm. Well, I'm here n9w s9 y9u might as well sh9w me ar9und y9ur d9rm6lock."

"YOU WERE JUST LOOKING FOR ANY EXCUSE TO VISIT WEREN'T YOU." Karkat snapped. Being the only other mutant each other had ever known, Kankri had always expected Karlat to understand him more than others did, even Crabdad.

"Just sh9w me y9ur d9rm6l9ck."

"STUPID BULGE LICKER." Karkat grumbled as he unlocked the door. "THERE'S NOT MUCH TO SEE, THE DORMS AREN'T THAT BIG." Regardless Kankri stepped inside and took a look around. Despite the two students having only been there a short time the place was absolutely filthy. Mostly from empty pie tins, faygo bottles and no small amount of horns. Due to the two recuprecoons and two desks Kankri had guessed that Karkat had not made this mess alone.

"I'm guessing this is y9ur new r99mmate?"Kankri asked turning around.

"UH," Karkat looked over his shoulder at Gamzee. Karkat had almost forgotten that Gamzee was even there with the way he was just silently watching.

Gamzee stopped and stared when he saw Kankri leaning against the door. Who was this short little troll that had the same nubby little horns, the same weirdly grey eyes, and the same curve to his face as his roommate? He watched every interaction Karkat had with him. Karkat seemed to know this troll rather well to entrust him to take care of his lusus. And let them into the dorm. Gamzee then realized the older looking Karkat-no wait, the younger Karkat called him 'Kankri'-Gamzee then realized Kankri's attention was now on him. He gave his usual dopey smile.

"GaMzEe MaKaRa." Gamzee introduced himself to Kankri, holding out his hand to him. Kankri looked him over before taking it.

He saw Gamzee and the first thing he noticed was his ridiculous clown make-up. But the second thing he noticed was the purple on his shirt and in his eyes.

Kankri showed no signs of fear or even discomfort at the presence of Gamzee. He could have been trying to hide it, but if was bothered in the slightest he didn't let it stop him from starting a what would probably be a long winded speech on equality.

"Kankri Vantas." Kankri responded taking Gamzee's hand. "Tell me, what are your views on the 6l99d caste system?" Karkat rolled his eyes.

"WhAt DoEs It MaTtEr WhAt A MoThErFuCkEr'S CoLoR iS. ThE MiRtHfUl MeSsIaHs HaVe GiFtEd Us AlL ThE MiRaClE oF LiFe FoR a ReAsOn." Karkat rolled his eyes again.

"I f9r 9ne, 6elieve that phrases such as low6l99d, peasant6l99d, and rust6l99d are triggering words…" He started. Meeting a highblood as lax as Gamzee gave Kankri the idea that he'd be able to influence someone from the upper castes to agree with his views, but he could not finish his rant as Karkat interrupted him.

"CAN I TALK TO YOU OUTSIDE FOR A SECOND?" Karkat asked, not really waiting for a response as he was pushing Kankri out the door. "DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO BE HERE RIGHT NOW? WE HAVE A PROJECT DUE AT THE END OF THIS WEEK AND I'M GOING TO DO ALL THE FUCKING WORK BECAUSE THAT BULGELICKING FUCKHEAD IN THERE THINKS SCIENCE RUINS MIRACLES."

"Here y9u have the perfect 9ppertunity to 6efriend an influential character regardless 9f y9ur class and y9u just insult him like y9u d9 any9ne."

"I DOUBT HE'LL BE THAT INFLUENTIAL. THE FUCKER'S ROTTING OUT HIS THINKPAN WITH FUCKING SOPOR SLIME. HE'LL BE LUCKY IF HE ISN'T BRAINDEAD BY SENIOR YEAR."

"S9p9r slime has never 6een kn9wn t9 cause 6raindamage."

"THAT'S BECAUSE NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN KNOWN TO EAT IT….. UNTIL NOW." Karkat mumbled, "JUST GO HOME AND PREPARE CRABDAD'S FOOD. YOU CAN COME BACK ON THE WEEKEND." Karkat said, trying for once to be compromising before he re-entered his dormblock, shutting the door behind him so Kankri wouldn't follow him back in.

"WhO wAs ThAt MoThErFuCkEr?" Gamzee asked as Karkat re-entered the room alone.

"KANKRI IS MY BROTHER... I GUESS."

"CoOl, MoThErFuCkeR. i DiDn'T kNoW tRoLlS cOuLd HaVe BrOtHeRS." He said. While Gamzee referred to people as brothers and sisters almost as often as he referred to them as motherfuckers, he had yet to meet a troll that grew up with an actual sibling.

"WELL, HE'S NOT EXACTLY… SORT OF," Karkat took a breath trying to get the long explanation out, "WE MET WHEN I WAS LIKE TWO SWEEPS OLD AND HE WAS A HALF SWEEP OLDER THAN ME. HE FOUND OUT WE HAD …UM… SOMETHING IN COMMON… AND THEN JUST KEPT FOLLOWING ME AROUND ALL THE TIME, FOR LIKE SWEEPS. HE WAS ON HIS OWN WHEN HE WASN'T AT MY PLACE, SO EVENTUALLY WE JUST TOOK HIM IN."

"On HiS oWn?" Gamzee sounded interested and a little sympathetic, "WhAt AbOuT hIs LuSuS?"

"HE DIDN'T HAVE ONE. HE SAID HE USED TO LIVE WITH SOME DOLOROSA GIRL, BUT SHE GOT IN TROUBLE AND WAS SENT OFF TO THE SEADWELLERS, OR SOMETHING. HE DOESN'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IT VERY MUCH. HE JUST HAD NO ONE AROUND FOR HIM WHEN WE MET" Karkat didn't know why he was explaining all this to Gamzee and was starting to get uncomfortable. Neither him or Kankri had pleasant pasts and Karkat didn't enjoy talking about it. Instead of asking more questions Gamzee just paused for a moment.

"MuSt Be NiCe HaViNg A bIg FaMiLy." Gamzee commented before pausing again.

"UM... YEAH, I GUESS."

"...No OnE aRoUnD fOr HiM..." Gamzee eventually mumbled, barely audible. He then laughed lslowly, "MaYbE wE cOuLd Be BrOtHeRs ThEn." He stood up laughing, not waiting for Karkat's response, and went into the kitchen to grab another pie and bottle of Faygo. Karkat just stood by and looked confused.

"WAIT…WHAT?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I guess you can scratch that thing I said about not updating until Friday. Twice. Oh, well. Enjoy.**

Karkat did not pursue the comment Gamzee made after he got his pie. He had work to do.

It was much later than Karkat usually stayed up. Sure he had his bouts with insomnia in the past, but tonight that wasn't the reason he was up. He was typing away on his husktop, organizing notes on atoms and looking for corresponding graphics. His time was limited between detention, class, and all his other homework and it didn't help that when he tried to explain the notes to Gamzee he said Karkat was 'ruining the miracles'. Karkat groaned, even if he finished the report on time he wasn't sure how he would convince Gamzee to present with him, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. First he had to finish the report and he would stay up all night if he had to. He could just sleep later, like when Kankri visited. He probably wouldn't notice if Karkat fell asleep when he was talking anyway.

Karkat was soon wondering if he could hold out that long as his eyes were having trouble focusing on his screen. He yawned and looked over to Gamzee with no small amount of anger for the other troll. Gamzee had actually fallen asleep a while ago, nestled into his cocoon with only his long goat-like horns were actually visible, sticking out the top. Karkat looked back his husktop bleary-eyed trying to get back to work.

Karkat was awoken by his roommate shaking his shoulder.

"HeY, KaRbRo." Gamzee called his name gently, "YoU mOtHeRfUcKiNg fElL aSlEeP aT YoU'rE kEyBoArD."

"FUCK." Karkat grumbled groggily as he slowly lifted his head. His eyes, once again irritated from falling asleep with his contacts in, managed to focus in on his husktop screen. Karkat was disappointed to find that he didn't get as far along in the report as he would have liked, not unless you counted the random letters inserted into the middle of the document from Karkat's head rolling around on the keyboard, but somehow Karkat didn't get the impression that was what his teacher was looking for. He quickly deleted the remaining gibberish and save the document.

"YoU wAnNa Go DoWn To ThE CaFeTeRiA aNd GeT oUr MuNcH oN?

Karkat looked at the time, he had thirty minutes to get to class, and he still hadn't finished his art assignment, but all he needed was a quick sketch so he could probably do that in time.

"FUCK, GAMZEE I JUST NEED TO BE LEFT ALONE FOR A WHILE."

"WhAtEvEr YoU SaY, BeSt FrIeNd." Once heard Karkat tensed at the word. This high blood considered him a friend? Not just a friend, but his BEST friend? That would mean he would want out hang out a lot wouldn't it? To hell with that! He was still moving out as soon as the quarter was over.

"YOU'RE NOT MY BEST FRIEND." Karkat grumbled.

That night followed a similar pattern to the previous night with Karkat sitting at his computer typing away for hours on end trying to catch up on homework after cleaning duty. It would be going a little faster if Gamzee wasn't constantly interrupting him with stupid questions.

"HeY BeSt BrO, wAnNa HeLp Me PrAcTiCe JuGglInG?

"I mAdE sOmE pIeS, bEsT BrO. wAnT sOmE?"

"BeSt BrO, wAnNa OrDeR sOmE pIzZa AnD gEt OuR mUnCh ON?"

"YoU GoNnA WaTcH aNoThEr MoViE tOnIgHt, BeSt BrO?"

"BEST BRO? WHY THE FUCK DO YOU KEEP CALLING ME THAT?" Karkat finally snapped at him.

"BeCaUsE yOu ArE My BeSt FrIeNd, My BrOtHeR."

"I ALREADY SAID YOUR NOT MY BEST FRIEND. HOW THE FUCK WOULD WE BE BEST FRIENDS? FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS I'VE BEEN DOING ALL THE WORK SO WE DON'T BOTH FAIL WHILE YOU HAVE BEEN CHUGGING FAYGO AND BAKING PIES. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING A BEST FRIEND WOULD DO?," Karkat snapped. Gamzee's smile faltered just the slighted bit at this, "JEGUS FUCK, I WOULD SAY YOU ARE LIKE A BLACK HOLE WITH THE WAY YOU EAT, BUT THAT WOULD IMPLY THAT EVERYTHING THAT CROSSED YOUR PATH GETS SUCKED IN AND NEVER EXCAPED, WHEN CLEARLY OTHER'S WORDS ARE FREE TO FLY OFF BECAUSE EVERYTHING GOES IN ONE SOUND RESEPTOR AND OUT THE OTHER.

"CoMe On BeSt BrO," Gamzee mumbled but was cut off by Karkat again.

"LOOK, I'VE BEEN UP ALL NIGHT WORKING ON THIS. IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HELP ME, FUCK OFF, BECAUSE I'M STAYING UP UNTIL THIS IS DONE AND I CAN'T AFFORD TO BE DISTRACTED." Karkat fell asleep five minutes later. His head was once again pressed up against his husktop, smashing random letters and numbers into his report.

Gamzee looked over Karkat's snoozing head at the miracle ruining report. In all honesty there wasn't much he could do to help Karkat anyway. He had been up all night and was almost done with his work. For the chem project at least. In a halfhearted attempt to maybe understand a little of the material for when they present Gamzee went poking through a stack of Karkat's notebooks for information. He found that the notebooks Karkat left by his desk where for his other classes and that he was already falling behind. His math notebook was empty; he hadn't even begun his homework yet. Gamzee looked at the teachers' names and smiled slightly as he noticed that, while they did not have the same class period, they did have the same teacher. Maybe he would still be able to help his brother out after all.

Karkat awoke at his desk again and groaned as he realized he once again fell asleep at the key board. Gamzee was still in his recuprecoon, and a quick glance at the time told him that they had both slept in an he wouldn't be able to do any work this morning. He got up and went to the hygiene block and looked in the reflecting glass to see his eyes all red. His contacts were still in, but his eyes were extra irritated and bloodshot from falling asleep in them two nights in a row. Fortunately Gamzee was still sleep so he was able to get his eye drops and return the hygiene block without him he came out though Gamzee was awake, sloppily cramming everything in his bag for classes.

Karkat quickly grabbed a slice of nutrition yeast-based loaf and slung his bag over his shoulder before going to classes himself, but was stopped when Gamzee reached out to grab his shoulder. Karkat stiffened for a second thinking Gamzee was going to finally snap at Karkat for yelling at him last night. And all the nights before that. But Karkat relaxed when he saw the usual dopey grin on Gamzee's face.

"HeY bEsT BrO, yOu AlMoSt FoRgOt YoUr mOtHeRfUcKiNg NoTeBoOK."

"you're not my best friend," Karkat grumbled, but only barely audible. While he didn't like being called Gamzee's friend, yelling wasn't suitable when he was only trying to be nice. Karkat took the note book and shoved it in his bag before walking off angrily. He knew that because he fell asleep he didn't have time to do the work, so bringing in his notebook was all but pointless.

When Karkat was in history he found Sollux and managed to copy a bunch of the homework before they had to turn it in. Karkat did not have any friends in his other classes so when he sat down in his math class Karkat opened his notebook, hoping to scribble out some bullshit answers into his notebook before the teacher asked for them to turn in their homework. When he opened up his notebook he found… his homework. Written up in a handwriting a bit sloppier than Karkat's actual handwriting.

When it came time to turn in the homework Karkat hesitated. He didn't have anything else to turn in, but he didn't want to take credit for Gamzee's work. He was pretty sure that Gamzee had handed his own notebook to Karkat by mistake. He looked down at the page in contemplation and noticed in the corners doodles of :o) smilely faces and the word 'honk' written in the corners, but above that Gamzee had not written his own name to mark the work. It read Karkat's name.

Karkat flipped through the notebook once again to make sure that he had the right note book and found that it was most definitely his own when he found the crude drawing of crabdad in the front cover. Did Gamzee do his homework for him? If so his signature smiley faces where a dead giveaway that Karkat didn't do it.

"DAMMIT." Karkat grumbled and started erasing the doodles on the corner of the page before passing it in.

Gamzee was surprisingly co-operative that evening. He actually helped Karkat when he was putting together the visual aids. And when it came time to present he took the notes without issue or even bringing up miracles. Karkat couldn't decide whether he was more appreciative to finally be getting some co-operation, or annoyed that Gamzee waited until the last day. Either way it was a great relief when the project was finally over and Karkat could go back to his dorm block and instead of immediately working on homework, being able to relax to one of his rom-coms.

Karkat popped the disk into his husktop and got ready to watch Troll Will Smith explore the complexities of the romance quadrants.

"HeY, KaRkAT mY BrOtHer." Gamzee said, draping his arms over Karkat's shoulders, much to Karkats annoyance, but he didn't move. It was hard to tell since 'bro' and 'brother' had always been a part of Gamzee's vocabulary, but ever since Kankri's visit Karkat got the feeling that Gamzee had been calling him a brother a lot more, specifically he'd been saying '_my_ brother', and right now he was starting to seem a little…clingier. He seemed to really like the idea of having a family member around for some reason. When Sollux met Kankri he just thought it was weird. Maybe Karkat should have asked about that comment he had made after Kankri's visit.

"WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK DO YOU WANT?"

"JuSt To HaNg OuT WiTh My BrOtHeR." Gamzee said with a smile on his face, "WhAt aRe YoU aLl uP AnD wAtChInG ToNiGhT?"

"JUST TROLL WILL SMITH, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING I WANTED TO ASK YOU. DID YOU KNOW YOU WROTE YOUR HOMEWORK DOWN IN MY NOTEBOOK." Karkat hesitated before saying, he felt a little conflicted about bringing up the subject when it was already too late to give it back to him, and the answer as probably obvious since he wrote it with Karkat's name, but he just wanted to confirm it just to be sure.

"NaH, iT WaS JuSt A cOpY mY InVeRteBrOtHeR. I lEfT tHaT fOr YoU."

"WHY?"

"It'S JuSt SoMeThInG a MoThErFuCkEr WoUlD Do FoF HiS BrOThEr."

"IF YOU HAD HELPED WITH THE CHEM PROJECT IN THE FIRST PLACE I WOULDN'T HAVE NEEDED YOU TO DO MY HOMEWORK." Karkat grumbled, finally shrugging Gamzee off of his shoulders, "AND SPEAKING OF BROTHERS, KANKRI IS PROBABLY GOING TO VISIT THIS WEEKEND."

"tHaT's MoThErFuCkINg AwEsOmE." Gamzee smiled.

Over the next couple weeks, whenever Kankri showed up again, (which he did quite frequently) it would get Gamzee's interest. At first Gamzee would try to get in on the brotherly love he thought was going on between him and Karkat, but whenever speaking towards Gamzee, Kankri's conversations would devolve into lectures on how Gamzee should give trigger warnings while he speaks because he swears so much, and that he should consider lowbloods feeling and equality, because lowbloods have it so tough but he didn't notice it because he was a privileged highblood.

After the first seven and a half minutes of Kankri's one-sided rambling Gamzee started to zone out and a look of boredom glazed over his eyes. Gamzee didn't try to talk to Kankri anymore. Now he just watched as he interacted with Karkat. Karkat couldn't blame him.

Gamzee looked between Karkat and Kankri during one of his visits. Kankri sure loved to talk a lot. All of his conversations where pretty one-sided. He was actually getting a bit annoyed by Kankri's visits. Sure he found the idea of brother trolls fascinating, but as the novelty of the concept began to wear off, he realized that it was really cutting into the time he had with Karkat and his chances of getting any of that brotherly feeling, not to mention his visits usually left Karkat irritated making him less willing to put up with Gamzee.

"OH, SWEET MERCIFUL SILENCE," Karkat sighed, closing the dormblock door on Kankri after one of his visits. Kankri practically chatted Karkat's ear off

"HoNK."

"GOGDAMMIT." Karkat gumbled, "WHAT DO YOU WANT GAMZEE?" He sighed turning to the taller troll slightly.

"JuSt WaNna AsK a MoTheRfUcKeR a QuEsTiOn."

Karkat paused.

"YES?

"YoU FrEe NeXt WeEkEnD?"

"I GUESS." Karkat answered hesitantly. Where was this heading? He never really had plans for the weekend, unless it was homework.

"I hEaRd ThIs NeW mOtHeRfUcKiNg RoM-CoM iS In ThEatReS. WaNnA SeE It WiTh Me?"

Go out to a movie? At the theatre? Where other people could see him? Karkat knew Gamzee thought it was a nice gesture, but he'd rather not go out and embarrass himself by letting everyone know about his shitty taste in movies.

"NO. I CAN'T SAY THAT I DO." Karkat responded. Gamzee's smile quickly fell. He looked almost dejected. Karkat grimaced at the reaction.

"Aw, MaN. I aLrEaDy Up AnD bOuGhT tHe MoThErFuCkInG TiCkEtS." Gamzee's uncharacteristic moodiness was making Karkat uncomfortable.

"WELL, IF YOU ALREADY PURCHASED THE TICKETS…" Karkat mumbled, he was feeling a little like he was being guilt tripped into going, but he the offer was a nice gesture… he thinks. "FINE, BUT I DON'T SEE WHY YOU WANT TO GO WITH ME SO BADLY."

"BeCaUsE yOu'Re My BeSt FrIeNd."

That again. Karkat groaned, rubbing his face into his hands. Gamzee then Honked loudly into Karkat's ear, much to the latter's irritation.

"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE A SHITTY FUCKASS BEST FRIEND LIKE YOU?" He grumbled, voice slightly muffled from his face being pressed into his hands. Gamzee honked again even louder and Karkat turned to glare at him. While Karkat had already realized Gamzee didn't take offence to his insults, he didn't think Gamzee enjoyed them either, but lo and behold Gamzee's wide grin looked happier than it ever did before. This confused Karkat.

"WHAT?" Karkat asked hoping for clarification.

"BeSt FrIeNd."

Karkat's eyes widened as he realized what he just said. He had just acknowledged the infuriating highblood clown as a friend. He didn't deny it like before, he called him a friend. A _best _friend.

"FUCK." Karkat grumbled as he found himself in a massive bear hug in Gamzee's arms. "GOGDAMMIT, GAMZEE. PUT. ME. DOWN."

Gamzee just honked happily and squeezed him tighter. Karkat frowned. Oh this wasn't good. This was not good.


	5. Chapter 5

Come Karkat's last day of cleaning duty he found himself alone. Which was surprising; he was expecting Gamzee to be following him around all day after he had referred to Gamzee as a friend, but no. As soon as class let out he was headed off campus to get the tickets. When he said that he had already purchased them it was a spur of the moment lie made in the hopes of influencing Karkat. He figured the other troll would be more likely to agree if it would have been a waste if he didn't go. Sure, it may have been a little manipulative, but he was really excited to spend time together.

Gamzee was always excited to spend time with anyone who would put up with him and he considered Karkat someone who would put up with him, despite all his swearing. At least Karkat didn't go to a friend's already full dormblock and sleep in their bathtub until they could get a legitimate transfer like the roommate he had last year. The dude was just not chill with the mirthful messiahs, or the sopor pies, or single wheel device, or the constant swearing, or any of the things Karkat still stuck around after seeing. Gamzee got the impression that the other troll disliked those habits because he saw them ill-suited to his blood class, but he would never go against Gamzee and instead just started avoiding him.

Karkat on the other hand was very vocal about his displeasures, but still managed to put up with them. Somewhat. He stuck around after all of Gamzee's annoyances. Except when there was that little rage incident, which Karkat had not seen yet, but four out of five isn't bad. Sure Karkat shouted a lot at first, but then he would just try to brush off and ignore when presented with them.

Gamzee was particularly excited for the weekend. His wriggling day was coming up and it would be the first time in sweeps that he had not spent it alone. Even before he signed up for school he didn't see his lusus much. Some months he would make himself so scarce it was like Gamzee didn't even have one. One of the reasons Gamzee signed up for boarding school was in the hopes of being a little less lonely and meeting some of the other students. And now he had his brother Karkat.

"HeY, KaRbRo!" Gamzee called as he opened the door to his dormblock before he even looked around. "Karbro?" He received no response. Karkat was nowhere to be seen, for he was not in his own dorm block, but had he known that visiting Sollux's dormblock would have resulted in matesprit solicitations from a certain finned highblood roommate he would have just stayed in his own dormblock.

"Oh my gog, you really can't go fiive miinute2 wiithout hiitiing on 2omeone." Sollux commented on the blatant flirtation before directing his attention towards Karkat, "He's been liike thii2 ever 2iince Feferi broke up wiith hiim."

"Not only did you ruin my relationship wwith fef, but you bring it up wwhen I am trying to get over her? You are the wworst sort of Landdwweller."

"Ii'm not the rea2on 2he dumped you jacka22. You brought that on your2elf. You were all over her all the tiime."

"It wwasn't like I wwas being ovver bearing, I wwas just showing my concern, right Kar?"

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DRAGGING ME INTO THIS? I WASN'T EVEN THERE!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Karkat shouted, standing up and heading towards the door, "I'M JUST GOING TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. ANYTHING BEATS LISTENING TO YOU TWO DOUCHEBAGS YELLING ALL THE TIME."

"You know what, ii'll go wiith you. Ii wanted two talk to you about 2omethiing iin priivate." Sollux said following and quickly shutting the door behind him. "2o we 2hould hurry up and get to your dormblock."

"THAT'S NOT MUCH MORE PRIVATE THAN HERE. GAMZEE IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE THERE."

"Okay, ii don't care. How about the cafeteria or 2omethiing."

"THAT'S NOT PRIVATE EITHER."

"Ii don't actually need two talk iin private, ju2t away from here."

"WHY?"

"ii may or may not have 2ent a viirus two Ampora's computer that wiill cause iit two explode, 2o we 2hould get a2 far away from here a2 po22iible before he check2 hiis email."

"DAMMIT, SOLLUX!" were Karkat's only words before they both went darting away to Karkat's dormblock.

"any way, what ii wanted two talk two you about," Sollux spoke as they moved, "Ii ran iinto thii2 kiid iin my hii2tory cla22, he 2aiid that he had Makara la2t year. He2 an even biigger douchebag than Ampora, and ii diindn't even know that wa2 po22iible."

"SO WHAT? HALF THE KIDS IN THIS SCHOOL ARE TOTAL FUCKTARDS. HOW IS ANOTHER ONE EVEN REMOTELY A FUCKING SURPRISE? I COULD GO ON FOR HOURS ON WHAT A CLUSTERFUCK OF ASSHOLES THERE ARE IN MY CLASSES AND THAT'S NOT EVEN INCLUDING THE TEACHERS!"

"hey, ii 2tood around gettiing called a gutterblood by thii2 a22hole for ten minute2 tryiing two get 2ome u2efull iinformatiion for you, 2o 2hut up and li2ten."

"FINE."

"Ii a2ked hiim how he handled liiviing wiith Gamzee and he 2aiid he ju2t gave up. He moved out after only three day2."

"BUT THE OFFICE WONT LET YOU MOVE OUT EARLY."

"he 2aiid he would rather 2leep on the floor than deal wiith the aggriivatiing hiighblood wiith no cla22. 2o he unofficiially 2tayed wiith hii2 moiiraiil untiil he could get a real tran2fer."

"WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT."

"kk, you don't have a moiiraiil."

"SHUT UP."

"anyway, he 2aiid he hated that Makara diidn't act liike the way a hiighblood 2hould."

"IS THAT ALL? THAT'S THE ONLY REASON I'M ABLE TO SLEEP AT NIGHT WHILE KNOWING THAT CLOWN IS A FEW FEET AWAY FROM ME."

"2ee, that'2 the thiing, he went on two 2ay that the only tiime he 2aw Gamzee actiing liike a true hiighblood wa2 after he already offiiciially moved out.

"WHAT?" Karkat paused, "ACTING LIKE A TRUE HIGHBLOOD? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Um…"

"GOGDAMMIT SOLLUX! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?"

"Ii'm not 2ure. He diidn't give a lot of detaiil2, but ii think iit ha2 2omethiing two do wiith why the 2chool doe2n't have an art cla22block thii2 year. He went ber2erk iin there."

Karkat gulped. By this point they had both stopped outside Karkat's dorm. And he slowly leaned against the door as he tried to grasp what had just been told to him. He wondered why his art class usually took place outside. Whenever asked the teacher was asked all she would say was "closed for normal maintenance," but if it was for regulatory maintenance it should have been finished by now. How much damage could Gamzee have done? That happened _last_ year. They had all of the school break and were already halfway through the first quarter and they _still_ didn't finish repairing it. What were they reconstructing from scratch?

Karkat was pulled from his thoughts by a soft boom in the distance.

"2ound2 liike Ampora opened the fiile. Ii gue22 iit'2 2afe two go back two my dormblock. 2ee ya, kk." Sollux said before walking off.

"WHAT THE? SOLLUX YOU FUCK! YOU DON'T JUST DROP A PROVERBIAL BOMB ON SOMEONE THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE LIKE THAT! SHITHEAD!" Karkat shouted at him as he continued to walk off. He sighed. Karkat was now a bit frightened to return to his dormblock, thinking that Gamzee might be every bit as terrifying as Karkat thought he was when they first met.

He slowly creaked the door open and stepped inside nervously and looked around slowly.

"GAMZEE…" Karkat mumbled, looking around. He barely had time to register the troll right next to the doorway before being trapped in another bone crushing hug.

"HeY tHeRe, MoThErFuCkEr!" Gamzee said cheerfully, lifting Karkat into the air slightly with a dopey smile on his face. Karkat sighed and relaxed a little despite the hug being less than comfortable. It was the same old loving, chill, Gamzee. "I wAs ExPeCtInG yOu BaCk FrOm DeTeNtIoN eArLiEr."

"I, UH, RAN INTO SOLLUX ON THE WAY BACK."

"It'S AbOuT tImE yOu GoT HeRe MoThErFuCkEr, I wAnTeD tO tAlK tO YoU aBoUt ThIs WeEkEnD." Maybe he could get a cake, or make an extra special pie. It would be awesome if he could have a wriggling day party, even if Karkat was the only one there. At least it was someone.

"UM, BUT BEFORE THAT, GAMZEE. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ROOMMATE LAST YEAR?" Karkat asked. Gamzee looked confused for a second, wondering why Karkat would want to know that, but he answered anyway after slowly releasing karkat from the hug.

"Oh, He WaS oNe HeLl Of A MoThErFuCkEr. He oNcE sNaPpEd My DeSk In HaLf wItH oNe HaNd."

"DID THAT MAKE YOU MAD?" Karkat was really wondering if that was enough to make him snap and destroy a classroom.

"NaW, I kNeW He DiDn'T dO iT On PuRpOsE. bUt hE wAs NoT a ChIlL MoThErFuCkEr, He AlL uP aN mOvEd OuT oN Me." Gamzee said with a hint of sadness in his voice. Karkat noticed this

"ARE YOU OKAY?"

"YeAH, BrO." He mumbled, but seeking some comfort leaned over hand hugged Kakat again. The embrace was much more gentle than the last one. Karkat almost didn't hate it.

"AND, I WAS JUST WONDERING," Karkat began to ask against his better judgement, "IN MY ART CLASSWE ARE ALWAYS OUTSIDE, BECAUSE THE CLASSBLOCK IS UNDER REPAIR. IT HAS BEEN FOR QUIET SOME TIME. DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO IT?"

"UuH," Gamzee paused. Karkat was wondering how he would react, and was beginning to regret asking. What would he do if Gamzee got mad at him? There were still two weeks until he could request a transfer. Maybe he could sleep in Sollux's dormblock like his last roommate did. Even so Karkat was rapt with Gamzee's expression. Ever since meeting the troll he had not been like he expected, but was hiding something from or was he just odd?

At that point there was a knock on their door, Karkat wished to ignore it and study Gamzee's reaction but it was persistently knocking every two seconds. Karkat groaned. Who could be visiting at such an inopportune time? Well it wasn't that much of a wonder. There weren't many people who visited Karkat, and no one visited Gamzee, so Karkat had an idea. Karkat shook himself loose of Gamzee's hug and went to answer.

"GOGDAMN, IF THIS IS KANKRI…" Karkat grumbled as he swung open the door, "… SOLLUX." He looked at the yellow blood who was holding a jar full of bees in one arm and a duffle bag in the other.

"My dormblock exploded."

"NO FUCKING SHIT. WE COULD HEAR IT FROM HERE. WHAT KIND OF FUCKING VIRUS DID YOU WRITE?"

"Iit wa2 ju2t an old one ii made over 2ummerbreak. Ii wa2n't thiinkiing about the school dorms when ii wrote iit. They are more confined than blocks of my hive."

"SO?"

"both our recuprecoon2 were destroyed and ii need a place two 2tay. There are no 2pare dormblock2 for the 2chool to rea22ign u2." Well, there goes Karkat's backup plan. Guess he was stuck with Gamzee until the end of the quarter after all.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WERE EXPECTING AFTER SENDING HIM A VIRUS LIKE THAT."

"he ju2t make2 me 2o mad." Sollux said and walked right into the dorm. He set down his bag, not waiting for an invitation and started shuffling through it. "where diid ii put my miind honey?"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, YOU PRESUMPTIOUS BULGE LICKER?! I DIDN'T SAY YOU COULD STAY HERE." If he was honest with himself, Karkat's anger was more about Sollux destroying his own dorm and depriving Karkat of an alternative option for a living situation than it was about Sollux assuming he could stay in Karkat's dorm. But Karkat was never really open with his emotions.

"Don't be liike that kk."

"THERE ISN'T ENOUGH SPACE HERE!" Karkat said looking over his shoulder, hoping to get some support from Gamzee, but he just stood there with an ecstatic grin on his face by the thought of having another roommate. Karkat groaned, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO SLEEP?"

"MoThErFuCkEr CaN SlEeP iN mY hOrN pIlE iF hE wAnTs." Gamzee offered. Karkat groaned in frustration. Sollux looked over to the horn pile and shrugged. It didn't look too comfortable, but he no longer had the luxury of being choosy at this point.

"UGH. FINE." Karkat said, giving up. Gamzee immediately made his way over to Sollux with a cheery look on his face. Karkat remembered that they had a class together so there wasn't any need for introductions.

"It Is A MoThErFuCkInG mIrAcLe To HaVe YoU hErE." Gamzee said as he greeted Sollux.

"NOT REALLY." Karkat scoffed, but Gamzee went on.

"We ShOuLd CeLiBrAtE, I aLrEaDy HaVe A pIe ReAdY."

"WE'RE NOT HAVING ANY PIE." Karkat snapped.

"In CaSe YoU cHaNgE yOuR mInD, yOu MoThErFuCkErS aRe WeLcOmE tO hAvE a SlIcE aNyTiMe YoU lIkE."

"WHATEVER." Karkat said. He decided it was time to ignore both the clown and the computer nerd and plug into a nice rom-com. Karkat sat down in front of his desk and put on his head phones so he wouldn't be interrupted. You'd think he'd know better by now, wouldn't you? Gamzee immediately came over to watch, propping his head atop Karkat's.

"HeY, bEsT BrO, wHaTcHa WaTcHiNg ToNiGhT." Gamzee asked.

"NOTHING." Karkat growled pushing Gamzee off. He didn't want to say the title out loud because he didn't want Sollux to tease him. He did anyway.

"Oh, gog kk, are you 2tiill watchiing tho2e 2hiitty romance moviie2." Sollux laughed. Karkat groaned. It was going to be a long week.

The following morning Karkat grumbled slightly as he awoke the next morning and rubbed his eyes. He climbed out of his recuprecoon to find that he was the last to wake up. Sollux was already getting something to eat and Gamzee Couldn't be seen, but that just meant he was probably in the hygiene block, using the reflective glass to apply his clown make up. It was annoying when this happened because it meant having to wait to put on his contacts.

"Hey kk, do you guy2 have anythiing to driink be2iide2 thii2 2oda?" Sollux looked over the hunger trunk at him.

"NO, THAT'S ALL THE HE EVER FUCKING BUYS." Karkat looked directly at Sollux as he spoke; not caring if Sollux saw his red eyes. Karkat walked to the trunk as well, also looking for breakfast.

Sollux passed by Karkat finally having picked out somethingt, what he had chosen Karkat didn't see for he had then poked his head into the hunger trunk as Sollux plopped down in the horn pile and began to eat.

"Hii2 blood i2 goiing two turn iinto pure 2ugar."

"OF THE THINGS GAMZEE PUTS INTO HIS BODY, THE SODA IS THE LEAST CONCERNING." Karkat said as he looked through the many bottles of faygo, looking for some nutritional yeast loaf and a can of grub sauce. "HE EATS AT LEAST FIVE FUCKING PIES A DAY. I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW HE HAS ENOUGH TO MAKE FIVE PIES A DAY."

"Well they do ta2te pretty good."

"…WHAT?" Karkat asked before quickly straightening up to look at Sollux and froze. Sollux had apparently taken Gamzee up on his offer and had a half-eaten pie in his lap.

"What?."

"SOLLUX IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?"

"Ii2 what? The piie?"

"WAS THAT THE PIE GAMZEE MADE?"

"Yeah, 2o?"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IS IN THOSE?!"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: ** **Short Chapter is short! Sorry guys, I had an essay due in class this week and as much as I find Homestuck more interesting than Hamlet, schoolwork is a priority. To make up for it I will try and make next week's chapter extra long! Bye~ **

"OH GOG HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!" Karkat growled grabbing a hold of sollux's shirt and jerking him back and forth, "WHO EVEN EATS AN ENTIRE PIE FOR BREAKFAST?"

"ii only ate half before you knocked iit out of my hand2. Jegu2. Relax kk, what's even gotten iinto you?"

"THAT WAS A PIE MADE FROM SOPOR SLIME!" Karkat yelled. "WE HAVE CLASS IN TWENTY MINUTES AND YOUR GOING TO BE STONED OFF YOUR FUCKING ASS."

"Calm down kk. There2 no problem here. Everythiing will be fine." Sollux was starting to sound a little spacey. Damn that stuff worked fast. Karkat groaned and dropped Sollux into the horn pile. Maybe he was better of leaving Sollux here. He could stand to have one sick day, right? Although Gamzee managed to get through class every day and he was constantly high.

"Kk, why are you 2o angry all the tiime. Why would you be angry when you can just look at 2tuff.

"YOUR SO FUCKING ANNOYING WHEN YOUR HIGH." Karkat grumbled.

"there2 2o much 2tuff to look at, and iit2 all beautiiful 2tuff."

In the hopes of judging how high Sollux was, and to get an idea of whether he should leave him here or take him to class, Karkat kneeled down in front of Sollux to see how dilated his eyes were. He reached to grab his glasses off, Sollux would not hold still. He kept moving his head to look at all the beautiful stuff in the room, and it didn't help that his whole body was swaying. Finally he stopped and looked directly at Karkat, but his following actions made Karkat give up on grabbing his glasses as it was clear he was far too high to function in class.

"The world II2 2o beautiiful, kk. Everythiing2 2ooo beautiiful." Sollux said, placing his hands on Karkat's face.

"SOLLUX, STOP IT." Karkat grumbled, grabbing his wrists, but Sollux kept trying to rub Karkat's cheeks.

"Karkat, why do you hiide your eye2? They are 2o beautiiful."

"STOP IT."

"they're liike liitle cherry red candiie2."

"SOLLUX SHUT UP. GAMZEE MIGHT HERE YOU."

"I mIgHt HeRe WhAt?" Gamzee asked as he walked out of the hygiene block.

"FUCK." Karkat froze. He still hadn't put on his contacts and now Gamzee's attention was right on him. Karkat impulsively buried his face into Sollux's chest so that Gamzee could not see.

"Is SoMeThInG wRoNg KaRbRo?" Gamzee walked over briefly glancing at the half empty pie tin that was knocked to the floor and squatted down next to the other two.

"N-NO!." Karkat stammered nervously.

"YoU sUrE?"

"JUST GO AWAY!"

Sollux looked down at the top of Karkat's head, which was now pressed up against his chin. His eyes widened behind his mismatched glasses.

"kk…kk." Sollux whispered into Karkat's ears, "y-you have… you have… horn2. Growiing out of your head. Did you know you had horns growing out of your head" Karkat groaned frustratedly. "Oh my gog, kk. **_Ii_** have horn2 growing out of my head! When diid that happen?"

"BrO, wHy WoN't YoU tAlK tO mE?" Gamzee ignored Sollux, who was clearly experiencing Gamzee's special miracles for the first time.

"kk's ju2t nervou2 becau2e hii2 eye2 aren't put iin." Sollux said

"EyEs ArEn'T iN?" Gamzee inquired. That was an odd thing to say. He did not think Karkat's eyes where removable. He did not receive any explanation as to what Sollux meant for Karkat had slapped his hand over Sollux's mouth. Gamzee chalked it up to the sopor pies. He didn't really remembered his first time trying one, albeit somewhat hazily, and man was that one hell of a night.

"GAMZEE, JUST GO THE FUCK AWAY." Karkat shouted, trying to hide the desperation in his voice. Had he been looking at Gamzee he would have seen the highblood's eyes widen in realization as he thought he understood what was going on.

"OkAy, KaRbRo. I gOt Ya." He said before standing up and going off to resume his morning routine.

Karkat arrived late to his first class for he remained clinging to Sollux until Gamzee left the dorm, making it so the highblood was leaving for class before Karkat had even begun his daily routine with his contacts.

Karkat grew ansy as he walked to his Chem class. He felt the need to talk to Gamzee, to explain away the suspicious behavior this morning, but he could not think of a good excuse. He supposed he should just start with an fidgeted in his seat as Gamzee walked over with a pair goggles on and a bunch of beakers today's lab.

"UM, GAMZEE. I JUST WANTED TO APOLOGIZE FOR YELLING AT YOU. IT WAS JUST THAT I… UM." And this is where Karkat got stuck. He cursed at himself silently for trying to Segway into an explaination before having one, but he figured Gamzee would have asked anyway avoiding it would have at most bought him a few seconds to think. Gamzee surprised him though, not seeming to want an explanation at all.

"It'S aLl RiGhT mOtHeRfUcKeR. I kNoW, mY bRoThEr."

"Y-YOU DO?"

"YoUr MoThErFuCkInG rEd.

"WHAT? WHEN- HOW DID- YOU KNEW?"

"It WaS pReTtY mOtHeRfUcKiNg ObViOuS wItH yOu AlL uP AnD cUdDlInG lIkE tHat. NoThInG wRoNg WiTh A bRoThEr GeTtInG hIs ReD-RoM On. I DiDn'T mEaN tO iNtErRuPt On YoUr FuN tImEs."

Karkat's eyes widened and he stared at Gamzee mouth agape. He thought Sollux was his matesprite? Well, he guessed that was as good an excuse as any. At least he didn't have to come up with his own excuse now. Maybe when he got back he could convince Sollux to go along with it, either that or fake a break up. But wait, interrupting on his funtimes?

"YOU THOUGHT I WAS TRYING TO GET IT ON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM?!" Karkat shouted, a bit too loud as it turns out as quite a few other students heard him and turned around to look at him with confused and intrigued looks. Karkat noticed this and had to quickly pull his black sweater over his face to hide the blooming bright red blush from his incredible embarrassment.

"GOGDAMMIT." Karkat grumbled as he heard other students snickering.

"No NeEd To Be EmBaRrAsSeD BrO."

"LET'S JUST START WORKING ON THE FUCKING LAB ALREADY." Karkat snapped as he started picking out the chemicals.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So you may have noticed my updates

It took all of Karkat's willpower not to immediately start yelling at Sollux after class that day. Having walked back to the dorm with Gamzee, anything Karkat said Gamzee would be able to hear. So Karkat just stood glaring at the sobering up troll while the other fixed himself some pies.

Gamzee shuffled through the cabinate looking for something to stick in the pies only to find they were rather bare.

"HeY, kArBrO, dO We HaVe AnY sUgAr LeFt?" Gamzee called over his shoulder.

"FUCK IF I KNOW." Karkat snapped back.

"WelL tHaT iS MoThErFuCkInG uNmIrAcUloUs. I gUeSs I'Ll uP An HaVe To GeT MoRe." Gamzee said, closing the cabinet doors. "DoNt WaIt Up FoR Me KaRbRo." He said before leaving the dormblock. Karkat and Sollux were now alone to speak freely. Karkat exploded.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU GO AND DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" KArkat shouted.

"kk," Sollux started, but clearly Karkat was not going to wait for an answer as that would require him to stop yelling.

"GAMZEE IS CLEARLY STONE MOST OF THE TIME! WHY WOULD THE FUCK WOULD YOU TAKE SOMETHING HE HAD BEEN EATING. YOU NOOKSNIFFING FUCKWAD! FOR THE LOVE OF GOG DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE THAT CAUSED?! I COULD HAVE GONE ON WITH MY NORMAL DAILY ROUTINE, BUT NOOOO, I HAD TO MAKE SURE YOU WEREN'T ABOUT TO PASS OUT FROM ALL THE FUCKING PIE YOU HAD EATEN. I MEAN, FUCK! YOU GOT GAMZEE ALL CURIOUS AND NOW HE THINKS WE'RE MATESPRITES! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FUCKING EMBARRASSING IT WAS WHEN WE STARTED TALKING ABOUT IT IN CHEMISTRY! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I'M LUCKY THAT NO ONE SAW MY …" Karkat stopped there panting, deciding even in his raging state he wouldn't dare admit that someone managed to get him to blush.

"you done?" Sollux asked.

"MAYBE."

"Jegu2 kk. How wa2 ii 2uppo2ed two know he ate 2opor 2liime? Iit2 not liike you told me."

"DON'T YOU TURN THIS AROUND ON ME!"

"well you could have 2tiill brought iit up, liike when he offered the piie to u2."

"QUIT MAKING THIS MY FAULT! THIS IS ABOUT YOU!" Karkat snapped raising his arm to point angrily at Sollux.

"well ii diidnt do iit iintetiionally. Gog, that 2tuff 2tiill ha2 me dizzy." Sollux groaned, placing a hand against his forhead. "diid you tell hiim we weren't mate2priit2?"

"WELL, I COULDN'T EXPLAIN WHY I WAS HUGGING YOU WITHOUT TELLING HIM MY FUCKING BLOOD COLOR, SO NO."

"great." Sollux grumbled sarcastically, "aa ii2 goiing love heariing about thii2."

"WHO THE FUCK IS AA?"

"not iimportant riight now."

"WELL WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!"

"well, kk a2 long a2 he doen2t know your blood color ii2 there really anythiing to do about iit?

"I GUESS NOT…" Karkat mumbled, lowering his hand slightly. "BUT, I'M STILL MAD AT YOU! WHAT ABOUT ALL THAT HIGHBLOOD SHIT YOU TOLD ME ABOUT YESTERDAY? HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL COMFORTABLE KNOWING HE MIGHT RANDOMLY GO OFF?"

"2o your 2ayiing you'd rather be unaware that your liiviing wiith a tiickiing tiime bomb? You know he would 2tiill be dangerou2 even iif you diidn't know iit." Karkat bit back his response, for just then the door opened with Gamzee and a big bag of sugar for his pies. That trip didn't take him very long. Karkat glanced over to him briefly before Sollux reached up his hands and clasped them around Karkat's.

"Ye2 kk, ii would love two 2pend 12th periigee2 eve wiith you! What are mate2priit2 for?" Sollux said teasingly as soon as he saw Gamzee.

"FUCK OFF!" Karkat snapped back at him. Gamzee looked at the two with a small from on his face. Karkat figured it was because they weren't behaving like matesprits should, but he probably never had a matesprit so Karkat didn't care, what would he know?

Karkat jerked his hands away from Sollux and stomped over to the desk so he could watch one of his romcoms. Anything would be good to distract him from the mess of his personal life right now, however, Karkat had no such distraction as movie played. It was an old film he had seen many times before and the familiar scenes couldn't hold his attention very well. He found himself worrying about his situation.

Karkat had barely spoken to Gamzee since they returned to their dormblock. He just wasn't sure what to do. was conflicted about his roommate and how he should act around him. He was a highblood that could rip hi guts out, but he didn't act like a highblood that would rip his guts out. He was casual, almost impossible to offend and clung to Karkat like a wriggler to its lusus. He did not seem threatening in anyway, but he apparently could be triggered into such behavior. Not that Karkat would know, he was going off of something Sollux said, and Sollux was going off of something some stranger said. Should Karkat act like it wan't a problem or should he prepare for the worst? It probably be better if he got more information on Gamzee, but what would he do until then? For all he knows Gamzee could go off at any second. Would he just have to tip toe around him to avoid triggering him?

Karkat groaned. If he was going to have to slap trigger warnings on his actions then he might as well just be living with Kankri. Speaking of which Karkat hadn't seen him in a while, (compared to how frequently he usually visits) so his next visit is probably going to be as soon as he can come up with an excuse to come over.

Well, Karkat wasn't just going to sit around defenseless in case his roommate snaps, so he might as well give Kankri an excuse to come over. Karkat pulled out his phone and sent Kankri a quick text.

'HEY FUCKASS, WHEN IS YOUR NEXT VISIT? I WANT YOU TO BRING ME SOME OF MY SICKLES OVER FROM THE HIVE.'

Karkat got a response almost immediately.

"hell9 Karkat it is g99d t9 hear fr9m y9u, in a manner of speaking. Alth9ugh y9u sh9uld really warn s9me9ne 6ef9re y9u use such crude language. N9w I kn9w we have kn9wn each9ther f9r a l9ng time and we are already familiar with each9ther's speech patterns, had y9u 6een c9nversing with s9me9ne else it c9uld have 6een very 9ffensive. What if y9u had sent this t9 s9me9ne else by mistake? They c9uld have been very upset. I kn9w y9u have never been very adept in y9ur s9cial skills, but y9u sh9uld at least sh9w c9nsiderati9n f9r 9thers feelings. This is s9mething we sh9uld discuss m9re in pers9n. I'll be 9ver as s99n as I can. I d9n't kn9w a69ut the sickle th9ugh. Having a weap9n in the d9rm may make y9ur r99mmate unc9mf9rta6le and every9ne has a right t9 feel safe."

Karkat rolled his eyes. It was just like Kankri to give a speech when a single sentence would do.

"WELL I WON'T FEEL SAFE WITHOUT THEM. JUST BRING THE FUCKING SICKLES."

A few hours later there was a knock at the dormblock door and Karkat opened it up to find Kankri with two of Karkat's sickles in his hands.

"THANKS." Karkat mumbled as he picked up the weapons.

"Why exactly did y9u need these?" Kankri asked, probably wondering what Karkat meant by saying he didn't feel safe, but Karkat could not answer that as Gamzee was suddenly hovering over his shoulder.

"Oh, SwEeT mOtHeRfUcKiNg sCyThEs, BrO." Gamzee said. "WhY yOu AlL uP aNd BrInGiNg ThEm HeRe? PrAcTiCiNg FoR A sTrIfE?"

"THEY'RE FUCKING SICKLES, NOT SCYTHES. AND I JUST HAD HIM BRING THEM OVER SO I COULD SHOW THEM TO SOLLUX." Kankri raised an eyebrow at the blatant lie, but it only took him a second to realize what was going on.

Sollux walked over at the mention of his name.

"what are you goiing two do kk? Harvest 2ome graiin plant2?" He asked as he looked over Karkat's shoulder at the sickles.

"FUCK OFF." Karkat snapped.

"Pers9nally I think that w9uld have 6een a much 6etter use f9r them. Vi9lence 9nly 6egets m9re vi9lence." Kankri chided but then looke down to Karkat, "6ut I 6eleived I pr9mised y9u a discussi9n 9n y9ur s9cial skills s9 we sh9uld start with that." Sollux groaned, remembering how long Kankri's lectures got from when he visited last year.

Gamzee stayed out of Kankri's conversation, Karkat on the other hand was unusually eager to have the chatterbox lecture at him. Mostly because he wanted to avoid talking to Gamzee until he figured things out and with Kankri there he knew neither of them would be able to get a word in edgewise. Gamzee decided to continue making his pie as he watched the trolls with the unusual familial bond interact, completely unaware of Karkat's discomfort around him. After Karkat's brother left it became a little more apparent that something was off with Karkat. Whenever he tried to talk to him he was suddenly very busy, or Gamzee was interrupting a conversation between him and Sollux that seemed start just as he approached Karkat. It they weren't motherfucking best bros, Gamzee might have thought that Karkat was avoiding him. He hadn't even been given the chance to tell Karkat about his wriggling day, but that didn't stop him from preparing for it. He made extra special pies for the occasion, faygo mixed with sopor.

Gamzee even went out on his own before they had to go to the movie to get supplies. Mostly he purchased more faygo; what he had lying around the dorm was now baked into several pies. It would have been a relatively short trip, but he had been distracted by the stuff in the wriggler day section. There was so much stuff.

After Gamzee made his purchase he realized he spent more time gawking at the store supplies than he thought. If he went back to the dorm to get Karkat they would probably be late. It was a better idea just to go directly to the theatre and meet up with Karkat there. (or at least he thought it was a good idea, not thinking about having to carry all that faygo around with him) So Gamzee sent a text to Karkat telling him that he'd be waiting outside the theatre for him.

...

Karkat barely heard the buzz of his phone over his own yelling as he argued with Sollux, Gamzee being the subject of their conversation.

"FUCK. FUCK. FUCKIDY FUCK, FUCK. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS GUY."

"he ha2n't done anythiing yet."

"YES, BUT NOT KNOWING IS KILLING ME! I NEED TO DO SOMETHING!"

"man am ii regretiing exploding ed'2 computer riight now. Anythiing ii2 better than lii2teniing two thii2."

"SHUT UP, GAMZEE SAID TO MEET HIM AT THE THEATRE SOON, SO I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO THINK." At this point Karkat wasn't sure he wanted to go at all. All this uncertainty was driving him insane.

"oh my, kk," Sollux atarted in a teasing tone, "your goiing out wiith another troll? You wouldn't be cheating on me would you?"

"QUIT ACTING LIKE MY MATESPRIT. THERES NO POINT WHEN GAMZEE ISN'T AROUND."

"Well iim 2ure Gamzee would love to hear about that." Sollux snickered before slinking out the door, leaving it open behind him.

"OH, NO YOU DON'T YOU ANNOYING DOUCHE-FUCK!" Karkat yelled running after him, "COME BACK HERE YOU FU-AAAAH" Karkat cut himself off with his own scream as a sharp pain shot up his leg. He looked down to see a discarded shirt tangled around his ankle. He kneeled down carefully and removed it to see it had been carelessly thrown over one of his sickles, which he tripped over and now had a deep gash on his ankle.

"FUCK. FUCK. FUCK." Karkat growled as he saw the bright red bodily fluid everywhere. Gamzee was waiting for him, but like hell was he leaving his dorm with his mutant blood leaking everywhere. He needed to stop the bleeding and he needed to get everything cleaned up and evidence disposed of before Gamzee came back. "SOLLUX!" Karkat shouted, hoping that Sollux wasn't too far to hear him, or in the mood of ignoring him.

"Jegu2 kk, ii wa2 only me22iing wiith you, you don't have two act all paniicked." Sollux lisped as he poked his head back into the dorm. "holy 2hiit! What happened?"

"MY STUPID FUCKING SICKLE." Karkat snapped, "NOW SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR BEFORE ANYONE SEES! I NEED HELP CLEANING THIS UP."

...

Gamzee smiled as he waited for his friend to show up. This was going to be his best wriggling day ever; for once he wasn't going to be all alone. At least until his phone buzzed, alerting him to an incoming text. Gamzee pulled out his phone his smile stretched a bit wider when he saw the message was from Karkat, only for it to completely fall from his face once he read the text.

'SOMETHING CAME UP WITH SOLLUX. JUST GO TO THE MOVIE WITHOUT ME.'

...

"There you go kk," Sollux said once the gauze concealed any sight of red. "You know you could probably 2tiill make iit two the fiilm. Iit diidn't take that long two patch you up."

"PROBABLY, BUT THANKS TO YOUR FUCKING TALK WITH GAMZEE'S OLD ROOMMATE I GOT OTHER THINGS ON MY FUCKING MIND."

"Jegu2 thii2 agaiin. What are you goiing two do?"

"YOUR GOING TO TAKE ME TO HIS OLD ROOMMATE SO I CAN GET MORE DETAILS ON THIS GAMZEE WHILE HE IS AT THE MOVIE THEATRE."

"2o you're really ju2t goiing to leave Gamzee liike that?"

"I WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE. IF YOUR GOING TO FUCKING BLAME ME FOR WANTING TO KNOW IF THE GUY IM ROOMING WITH IS A FUCKING PSYCHOPATH THEN FUCK YOU! BESIDES, YOU'RE LIVING WITH HIM TOO, AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS."

"fine. But don't complain two me about wa2tiing your tiime wiith some total douchebag." Sollux said as he wiped Karkat's blood off of the floor. As soon as any evidence of Karkat's injury was gone Sollux lead Karkat to the place he thought the ex-roommate was most likely to be. The gym.

There he was, a blueblood chatting with Vriska and Eridan. One of his horns was broken, as well as his glasses, and a few of his front teeth. Karkat briefly wondered if Gamzee had anything that. They seemed to be arguing about blood castes as he was inquiring why Vriska spent so much time around a brown blood.

Karkat tried to hide his nervousness as he and Sollux approached the group of highbloods. He glanced down at his bandage to make sure absolutely no red was showing through before approaching.

"HEY FUCKTARD! I WANNA TALK TO YOU!"

"wwhat do wwant landwweller?" Eridan asked.

"NOT YOU, YOU INSUFFERABLE NOOKSNIFFER. I'M WANT TO TALK TO GAMZEE'S OLD ROOMMATE."

"D- are you referring to me?" The taller blue blood spoke. Karkat thought Sollux said his name was Equius.

"WELL HAS ANYONE ELSE HERE ROOMED WITH GAMZEE?"

"Geeeeeeeeze Karkat what's your pro8lem?"

"SHUT IT VRISKA, THIS DOESN'T CONCERN YOU." Karkat snapped before turning his attention back to the other blueblood. "I DEMAND YOU COME WITH ME." Karkat preferred to involve as little people people as possible so he didn't feel like letting Vriska or fish-fuck listen in.

"D- oh, oh my." He mumbled and started sweating for some reason. Gross.

"ARE YOU COMING OR WHAT?!" Karkat snapped as he began leading the way around the corner.

"D- you should not be so demanding lowb100d." is what Equius said, but he complied with Karkat's orders, while sweating even more profusely. Sollux followed as well. As soon as he was sure that the other high bloods were out of hearing range he spoke.

"I HEARD THAT GAMZEE IS THE REASON WE DON'T HAVE AN ART CLASSROOM ANYMORE. DID YOU SEE ANY OF IT HAPPEN?" Karkat cut straight to the point. It was the piece of information he wanted more than anything. Checking out the art classroom didn't provide much as the repairs where almost complete so he couldn't gauge the damage.

"D- oh, oh yes. It was truly amazing. I thought the highb100d to be a mere f001, but that day he seemed to realize his caste." Equius started sweating again.

"WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT, BUT THAT DOESN'T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED."

"D- the highb100d was born to act in such away. It was a blessing to see such STRONGNESS realized."

"HEY! JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!"

"D- Oh, my, I need a towel."

"thii2 ii2 exactly why ii wa2n't able two get many detaiil2 the fiir2t tiime ii 2poke two hiim." Sollux whispered into Karkat's ear.

"GROSS." Karkat's lips curled in disgust, "HEY, FUCKTARD! GIVE ME SOME DETAILS ALLREADY! WHAT DID HE BREAK? WHAT FUCKING SET HIM OFF?" Karkat wanted to hit him so badly, but after seeing what his obscene strength could do, he decided that wasn't such a good idea. He waved his hand in front of Equius's face instead, hoping that would be enough to get his attention back.

"D- must you use such 100d language." Equius looked at Karkat as he managed to regain focus.

"JUST FINISH THE FUCKING STORY!"

"D- oh, yes. The highb100d displayed an intense rage. He seemed a little off that morning when he arrived. His voice shifted between calm and screaming, but otherwise nothing seemed wrong. Until a comment about his religion insulted him, then he started smashing everything in site until the walls came down around him"

Karkat shuddered slightly as he made a mental note to avoid ever commenting on Gamzee's religion again.

Gamzee made it back to the dormblock before either Karkat or Sollux did. Without Karkat their he was no longer in any mood to see the film and ended up skipping it all together. He dropped the bags of faygo and stormed into the dorm to see it was empty. Karkat was probably off spending time with Sollux somewhere. One of the faygo pies he had made earlier was still on the counter untouched, but Gamzee was in to sour a mood for even that and ended up throwing it against the wall in frustration. He was in no mood for sopor right now. He just sat down on his horn pile frustrated and glared at the wall until he heard the door open and Sollux walked in, talking over his shoulder.

"ii warned you that he wa2 a total douche bag. Don't get mad at me." He said as Karkat followed behind.

"YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE FUCKING SWEATING, THAT WAS JUST GROSS."

Sollux was going to respond to Karkat but stopped when he noticed they weren't the only ones in the dorm.

"Oh, hey gz," Sollux greeted Gamzee, "we weren't expectiing you back 2o 2oon. Ii2 the moviie over already?"

Gamzee glared at him coldly, giving no verbal response. He no longer considered Sollux's presence to be another blessing. Instead he got up and stormed out of the dorm without a word to the other two and slammed the door behind him.

Karkat's eyes widened at his uncharacteristic behavior. I was normally so lax, it didn't seem possible to anger him. This did not bode well.


	8. Not a real Chapter Sorry

I wanted to post at least once a week, but I didn't have anything ready because finals are coming up. Also now that I've got everything set up I'm a little indecisive as to which way to go with the characters relationships. I'm open to suggestion, but I won't be able to fill everyones requests if they start contradicting each other. Next Chapter will be up asap!


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: So, my last update got me three new followers. Which is wierd since it was just me saying I wouldn't be able to update for a while.**

Gamzee was not seen for the rest of the day. The only sign he was ever around were the uneaten pies he left lying around the dormblock.

It was only the next morning when they when they heard from him. Karkat and Sollux were getting changed. Sollux poked fun at Karkat's choice in underwear when he saw the cartoon crabs on it and Karkat snapped back at him with a rude comment when the door swung open.

Karkat wasn't sure what Gamzee had been doing, but evidently leaving an unstable highblood to stew in his anger for hours was not the way to make them calmer.

"you still here motherfucker?" Gamzee asked when he saw Sollux. His voice was quiet, but firm.

"WHY WOULDN'T WE BE?" Karkat asked.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Um, kk, ii thiink we 2hould go now." Sollux grumbled.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD TALK RUSTBLOOD!" Gamzee suddenly snapped.

"I THINK GAMZEE NEEDS A SOPOR PIE." Karkat said trying to think a way to calm him down and he moved with sollux to the kitchen area to get some pies out.

This did nothing to improve Gamzee's mood. He was not about to be brushed off like some lowblood that no one cared what they had to say. He stormed right over to them and knocked the pies right out of their hands.

"GAMZEE! STOP!" Karkat shouted, but Gamzee did not yield.

Karkat was pushed away forcefully and his head slammed against the counter and he felt a burst of pain, as well as something warm trickling down his forehead. It was then Gamzee's attention had turned on Sollux.

Sollux backed away slowly as Gamzee closed in on him. The dorm block wasn't that big so he was afraid using his psiionics would turn Karkat into collateral damage.

Karkat stepped up from behind Gamzee and wrapped one arm around his chest, using his hand to pat his shoulder. He was doing his best to give an adequate hug while doing so, but he had only one hand available for the other was holding a towel pressed to his forehead.

"Shhhhhh. Gamzee please," Karkat spoke unusually quiet, trying to be soothing, "just calm down, shhhhhhh. I'm not going to leave. I'm right here."

"karbro?" Gamzee mumbled as he registered the warm embrace.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Gamzee's shoulder's sagged and his breath started to even out. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he felt glad that Karkat was so close.

Karkat slowly lowered Gamzee to the ground, where he sat with a rather tame expression on his face. Anger suddenly ebbing away.

Karkat did what he thought was the only possible follow up to this action. He released his grip on Gamzee and presented his free hand with two fingers sticking out, forming one half of a pale diamond.

Gamzee turned slowly to face Karkat, who then found himself a victim of a bone crushing hug.

"if you didn't want to be moirails you could have just said no, you don't have to choke me to death." Karkat gasped as he struggled to breathe in Gamzee's hold. Gamzee then loosened his hug on Karkat, not nearly enough that he would be able to escape from it, but his bro wouldn't be suffocating anytime soon.

"PaLeBrOs?"

"Palebros."

Sollux stared with his mouth slightly agape at the scene before him. If the change in the rooms atmosphere had shifted any quicker he was sure they would have all suffered some sort of emotional whiplash. After the shock wore off a little he noticed that Karkat still had one hand to his head and the towel was starting to darken in color.

"well thii2 ii2 niice and all, kk. But ii thiink there ii2 2omthiing you need two take care of." Sollux said, subtling hinting at his head. Karkat's eyes widened for a second before wiggling around in Gamzee's hug, who still held it for a moment longer before releasing him.

"RIGHT." Karkat started, shifting back into his usual loud voice, "NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME I HAVE A HEAD INJURY I HAVE TO FUCKING DEAL WITH BEFORE I BLEED OUT." Karkat said pointing to the towel pressed to his forehead, catching all the blood. Karkat made his way to the hygiene block. "SOLLUX!" he called over his shoulder indicating he wanted his help.

Once in the hygiene block with Sollux he began immediately discussing what the hell was wrong with him. He had his sickles in the room, a dangerous troll was threatening his friend, one that would have probably culled him if he saw his blood and said troll was facing away from him since his focus was elsewhere. Karkat could have grabbed one of his sickles and dug them into Gamzee's back and be done with it. No more high blood problems. But that is not what he did. Instead, he quadranted himself with said extremely dangerous highblood.

Sollux did not have an answer for him. When Karkat had started hugging Gamzee he thought he had gone insane. He thought he was going to die. But Gamzee calmed down so he assumed Karkat knew what he was doing after all, until he started losing his shit in the hygiene block.

Gamzee figured it was time he had one of his pies and relaxed. He went to the kitchen area, and pulled out a pie from the hunger trunk and started digging into it. He would have to make more soon. There weren't many left after he had thrown them all over the place when he was in a rage. He looked around the kitchen at the slime stains that covered the wall, at which point he noticed a strange puddle on the counter.

Gamzee looked at it. He wasn't sure where it came from, all he knew was that it was bright red, like cherry Faygo.

"KaRbRo, YoU bEeN tRyInG mY wIcKeD eLiXiR?" Gamzee called out over his shoulder. He knew he hadn't had any since he got back. Maybe his roommate tried it and spilled some? Gamzee did not receive an answer from his new palebro.

Karkat froze as he heard Gamzee's question muffled through the walls. Sollux looked at him.

"Calm down, kk. The kiitchen ii2 a me22. 2liime and faygo all over the place. He ha2 no rea2on two thiink iit'2 blood."

"WeLl, No PoInT iN wAsTiNg SuCh WiCkEd ElIxIr." Gamzee hummed to himself as he dragged his finger through the puddle and brought some of the red liquid to his lips. Had Gamzee been more sober he may have noticed immediately that the consistency was a little too thick to be his favorite soda, then again had he been more sober her might not have considered licking the spill up off the counter in the first place, but he was sober enough to recognize the substance he just put into his mouth was not nearly sweet enough to be cherry faygo.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Karkat, still in the hygiene block, was panicking.

"_NO. SOLLUX IS RIGHT. OKAY. THIS IS OKAY_," Karkat reasoned to himself, "_HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT IT'S BLOOD. HE HAS NO REASON TO THINK THAT IT IS BLOOD. MAYBE HE'LL THIN IT'S SODA."_

"It'S mOtHeRfUcKiNg SaLtY, "

"_HE ACTUALLY TASTED IT?!" _Karkat was really panicking now, "_OKAY, MAYBE HE IS STARTING TO SUSPECT IT MIGHT BE BLOOD, BUT HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT IT'S __**MY **__ DOOR WAS UNLOCKED WHEN HE GOT HERE IT COULD BE ANYONES…UNLESS HE COMES IN HERE AND SEES IT DRIPPING DOWN MY FACE. FUCK!" _

"kk. What are you…" Sollux asked as Karkat dropped the towel and stood in the ablution trap.

"KaRbRo?" Gamzee knocked on the door. He still wasn't getting an answer. He was starting to get a little angry. They hadn't even been palebros for thirty minutes and he was already being ignored again. He knocked again. This time a bit harder. The door cracked. He heard hasty shuffling inside. Gamzee just pushed the door open with all his strength and the door frame gave in. He walked in to find the hygiene block was empty of both Sollux and Karkat. He looked down to see more of the bright red faygo-look-alike substance had dripped around on the floor and the towel he had seen Karkat bleeding into was deeply stained in bright red.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: New update! Prepare to be disappointed.**

Gamzee looked down at the towel that lay on the floor. The substance on it was probably Karkat's blood, but he had never seen blood quite that shade before. There was something about the bright color nagged at his mind. Wasn't that supposed mean something. He vaguely remembered an encounter with some highbloods when he was very young. He had run into them when he was wandering the beach while waiting for his lusus. As he approached he heard them talking about some sort of priest with candy-red blood. Gamzee asked what they were talking about, but he didn't stay part of the conversation long. When he thought he saw a goat breaking through the surface of the water he bolted off without so much as a word to the other highbloods. Whatever it meant, Gamzee was sure it had to do with why Karkat left. He could ask him, if only he knew where he was. Sure was a pretty color though, Gamzee thought as he ran his now blood stained fingers across the wall, leaving the mark of a smiley face in red. Miracles :o)

Karkat heard hissing outside his door as Crabdad shuffled around on the other side of his respite block. He was hungry and wanted his chilled roe cubes, but Kankri wasn't preparing them because he was also just outside his door, knocking, asking to be let in and if he wanted to talk about what was wrong, for neither of them knew why Karkat, with no notice, showed up back home sans pants with dried blood caked on his face. As soon as the entrance to the hive was opened he darted up to his block and immediately locked himself in.

Karkat decided he was never leaving his respite block again. He would sit in his recuprecoon for the rest of his life an brood over everything that was wrong with him; his freakish blood, his absolute incompetency shown by hiding his freakish blood, not to mention him being the worst moirail ever. He went from hugging Gamzee to running from him in a matter of minutes. The guy seems so emotionally needy, he must be feeling horrible now-wait. Fuck. No. Karkat shook his head trying to reed himself of the thought. Thinking like that will get him killed. Hell, at this point even leaving his hive might get him killed.

Not only did the next grand highblood know about his freakish mutant blood, but probably half the school did too. When he made the split second decision to climb out the hygiene block's window he found himself rather exposed. He was still bleeding, and was stuck outside where anyone who was up that early would be able to see. The only option he had was to mad dash across campus with his blood and cartoon underwear on display for all too see. He ignored the pleas from Sollux to come back and didn't stop sprinting until he was well out of site.

Speaking of Sollux, he also fled the hygiene block. He was trying to tell Karkat it wasn't that bad when he started climbing out the window, but when the door cracked he followed suit. He intended to chase after Karkat, but Sollux didn't see which way that he went. Sollux then retreated to his other friends dorm.

He was now sitting on the floor of the dorm shared between Nepita and Aradia, trying to focus on his phone despite the excitable cat-obsessed troll who was trying to get him to talk about his relationships so she could fill in his shipping wall. There was also an awkward tension going on because the sweaty highblood happened to have been visiting his moirail when Sollux popped in, and seemed to get upset when Sollux took up most of Aradia's attention. At the moment Equius was just glaring at him as he pulled up Karkat's number on his phone, he wasn't answering his trollian since he left his husktop in the dorm. He sighed in relief when the call went through, although, when Sollux dialed the phone, it was not Karkat who answered.

"Hey, kk, you alriight? Where are you?"

"SoLbRo?" Sollux hung up when he heard Gamzee's voice. Why did Gamzee have Karkat's phone? Did he find Karkat? It should have been in Karkat's pocket…which would be in his pants lying on the floor of the dorm because Karkat was still getting dressed when Gamzee went into rage mode.

Gamzee looked down at the phone he had fished out of Karkat's pocket when it started ringing. Then down to the bloodstained towel in his hands. So apparently Karkat wasn't still with Sollux, and all forms of contacting him were left in the dorm block.

After looking for Karkat around Campus for an hour, Gamzee decided that he should probably try something else. He flicked it on and was going to call Sollux back but realized he didn't have Sollux's number and he didn't catch the ID before the phone went to sleep. He flicked through the contactsand realized that he didn't recognize a lot of the names.

socialPreacher

twinsArmageddon

gallowsCalibrator

terminallyCapricious

Gamzee looked down the list and realized that Karkat must have used the trollian handles in the contacts into his phone when he saw his own. He never spoke to Sollux online, so he still didn't know which one was his. He just decided to start at the top of the list. Dialing socialPreacher…

"Karkat? What is the matter?"

"No, I'm NoT KaRbRo, I'm MoThErFuCkInG LoOkInG fOr hIm. ThIs IsN't SoLbRO?"

"Such language is very triggering. Y9u sh9uld really have given warning, especially since y9u don't seem t9 kn9w wh9 y9u are talking to."

"I mOtHeRfUcKiNg KnOw WhO I'm TaLkInG tO nOw."

"Y9u really sh9uld 6e m9re considerate. And Karkat is n9t talking to any9ne right n9w. He has l9cked himself in his r99m and w9n't c9me 9ut. I have tried talking to him as a g99d 6r9ther sh9uld, 6ut he refuses to c9municate. I was h9ping that this was him trying t9 talk t9 me with9ut having t9 9pen up the d99r. Why do y9u have Karkat's ph9ne anyway? I h9pe y9u did n9t take it with9ut his permissi9n. It is n9t appr9priate t9 take 9ther's 6el9ngings, even if y9u share a living space. We all-"

"KaRbRo'S GoNe An LoCkEd HiMsElF AlL uP iN hIs MoThErFuCkIn RoOm? WhErE? He AiN't At ThE dOrMs."

"Y9u sh9uldn't interrupt pe9ple."

"If I dIdN't InTerRuPt, I wOuLd'Nt EvEr HaVe A cHaNce To MoThErFuCkIn SpEaK." There was a pause at the other end of the phone. It appeared Kankri didn't know how to respond to Gamzee's statement. He finally spoke, skipping over lecturing Gamzee about interrupting him and just answered Gamzee's question.

"Karkat is in his respite 6lock at 9ur hive. He has l9cked himself in his r99m and refuses t9 c9me 9ut and the 9nly thing he has said since he g9t here was that we w9uld have t9 9rder him a new c9mputer, 6ecause he w9uld not 6e a6le t9 retrieve the 9ld 9nce since he is never leaving the hive again."

"I cOuLd BrInG oVeR tHe MoThErFuCkEr's HuSkToP."

"That w9uld be helpful."

"YoU aRe GoNnA HaVe tO TeLl Me WhErE YoU MoThErFuCkErS AlL uP AnD LiVe If I'm GoNnA bRiNg It To YoU."

"Very well."

Karkat poked his head out of his recuprecoon and looked at his door. He hadn't heard any pestering from Kankri for quite a while now, well, it was like ten minutes, but that was a long time for Kankri to go without talking while he was still conscious and judging by the hissing sounds still coming from outside his door he wasn't taking care of Crabdad either. What could he be doing? Well it probably wasn't worth leaving his room to find out, so Karkat decided to ignore it and sunk back into the sopor slime. Man he really wished he had his computer right now. All he wanted to do was sit back, watch some rom-coms and forget about his day. He could also check up on Sollux and see how he was doing. Sitting around and stewing in his thoughts was really tormenting him. Hopefully the sitting in the sopor slime long enough would eventually knock him out even though it was hours before he usually tried to sleep. Then he wouldn't have to think anymore. Karkat closed his eyes and waited to drift off.


End file.
